Bush Braai

A staple of the Zimbabwean diet and social life is the Braai. The closest American equivalent is the BBQ, but a Braai has a few important differences. When an American says “lets BBQ”, you know for sure that Hamburgers and Hotdogs are most likely part of the menu. If not, then whatever meat you have will most likely have BBQ sauce or similarly flavored seasoning. Additionally, Americans will have the usual circular spaceship looking grill or some impressive piece of modern machinery that could very well take someone to the moon.

The only similarities that American BBQ has to the Zimbabwean Braai is fire and meat, otherwise, we have start over, literally, from the ground up. The best way to Braai (it is a verb- and a noun) is to have a bush braai. This means driving in your land cruiser, 4X4, or other all terrain vehicle, to some isolated spot in the uninhabited bush and set up camp there (the license plate on our land cruiser was ripped off by mud in a river bank we went through). Find logs, kindling, and brush and light it all on the spot. No forest service fire circle, no empty steel drum, no circle of rocks, just light up wherever. When its hot enough, put the grill on top of the embers (just a grated piece of metal) let it heat up, and throw the meat on.

This brings me to the meat. Preferably, you brought the animal kicking, or at least whole. Heck you could go hunting for the meat and have a Braai right there. Whole fat steaks and chickens are a must, as are Boerewors (pronounced bor-e-vos) the infamous South African style sausage. Actually to use the term “sausage” in describing Boerewors might be insulting. Sausages in American English also include those shriveled grey processed things you buy frozen and heat up in the microwave. To use Bratwurst would also be a misnomer because a bratwurst is definitively German: it has a defined beginning and end, and is consumed at a scheduled event in Oktober. A Bratwurst, like its American cousin, the hotdog, it is a micromanaged piece of meat.

Leave it to the Africans, then, to redefine what an encased piece of ground meat can become. It is so unique that you actually have to use another language to adequately address it! (Afrikaans for “Farmers Sausage”) Boerewors, when bought, is bought seemingly by the meter. It comes rolled up in a great big coil that lets you decide how much you can handle. No links, no breaks, just a giant roll of spiced ground meat in neat casing.

We had the braai on the banks of the Zambezi, miles from any paved road, and so much “in” the wild that the sound of fighting hippo rumbled through the camp every few minutes. Furthermore, a passing fisherman told us he had seen elephant pass by 200 meters away from us, and Chris Shepherd warned the boys to stay far from the edge as there was a 10 foot crock swimming nearby. As we walked around as well, we had to be careful of the giant dried two foot deep mud holes left by elephant tracks, and found a Kudu skull stripped clean and bleached white by the sun.

When the sun started setting, we loaded up the cars and went through the bush trying to find our way back. Literally we just drove over small trees and bushes trying to find our trail in to the place. The only problem was, sitting in an open back safari truck, every time we drove past a tree or an especially ornery bush, we had to duck or cover our arms from the thorns.