Created in January 2020, I have always loved to braai, and has for as long as I can remember. Childhood days, mom would often light up a fire and family would congregate and socialize. As I got older, braais with friends became a regular affair on weekends and on average, 20-30 friends from all over would all stop by with a piece of meat and cooler box in hand. We would play once bounce in the street or cricket in the yard. Once the sun went down, we would all settle in around a fire and talk about our day at the beach and who had the best wave. Mom insisted everyone spent the night and we had bodies sprawled all over the place, floor, couches, spare room and even the bath. This became a tradition and every weekend would repeat itself.

As years went by, friends emigrated, but we would always ensure that when a friend came back to visit, we would arrange for a braai at their house, just like to good old days.

Even though many mates left to go abroad, many came back and our braais became a regular thing again, we would find any excuse to light up a fire and sometimes organise weekends away to relax and braai. We simply loved it, like most South Africans, it was simply in our blood.

In September, 2018, I took part in the Guinness World Record for the most people braaing simultaneously, we beat the Americans previous record by 7, with a total of 571 people braaing at the same time and currently hold the record.

My braais became an addiction and I was braaing at home on average 4-5 times a week. I had to share my addiction and decided to create my Facebook page “The Braai Bru”. I currently have 1600 members and we growing every day. We all share our pictures of what we cooking, debates about best salads to go with what meat, share techniques and what we prefer to braai on, being charcoal, briquettes or wood. We like one big family and we have great fun. Our braai page is not only about meat and braais, but on occasion, we raffle off something to raise funds for those in need, the response is phenomenal and we love to help, true South African style.