The word braai (pronounced "bry", rhyming with the word "dry") is an Afrikaans word, which may be used as either a noun or a verb, meaning "roast", "grill" or "barbecue". The Afrikaans word Braaivleis (as a form of food or a social event) is related to this.

In ESAT both words can refer to the food, the process and the cultural practice - as well as the subject of and/or names for at least the following two stage plays

Braai as food, cultural practice and/or event

As a verb

To braai (or "braaing") means to burn or to roast in a general sense.

Most often used to refer to the popular process of grilling, roasting or barbecuing meat, sausage, "sosaties" (kebabs) or fish (sometimes other foods, corn on the cob, mushrooms, vegetables, bread, etc.) on the coals. The meat done in this fashion is specifically referred to as braaivleis (i.e. "grilled meat").

The practice of grilling or barbecuing meat is of course widespread international practice and has been so since the discovery of fire itself, so it is by no means limited to Southern Africa. However, to "have a braai" is nonetheless an enormously popular - and in some ways significant, and even culturally defining, social custom in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It is often found as a nostalgically retained practice among South African expatriates living across the globe.

The practice itself though is derived from the pragmatic custom of most travelers, explorers, and hunters to roast meat on a fire and coals on hunting and other trips. The particular name for the practice and the prominent social role it has played in the evolution of South African society in the 20th century, largely originated with the Afrikaans-speaking segment of the population however. Interestingly enough, it has since been adopted as a distinctive local practice - especially on festive occasions - by almost all South Africans, rural and urban, from many ethnic backgrounds, over the past 50 years or so. There is now even a national "Braai day" in the country.

In this sense "having a braai" is thus a particular kind of social performance and many arcane rituals and conventions have arisen around the process - as well as an enormous range of commercial activity from numerous recipe books, courses, braai competitions and so on to the sale of all kinds of ingenious equipment for "braaing" have been developed or imported from other countries.

used as a noun and adjective

"A braai" or "the braai" can either be a reference to the physical construction, or the portable implement, on which you braai the meat ( "he built a braai in the backyard", I bought a new "braai") or the whole event - inclusive of the apparatus and the processes involved in barbecuing meat (and other foods) over coals and consuming it with family, friends and/or colleagues ("I was invited to a braai", "they had a huge braai"). Adjectivally you would speak of things like braai tongs, braai wood, and so on.

The food itself is referred to as braaivleis ("grilled meat").

Two plays about a braai and braaivleis

Braaivleis by Charles J. Fourie (1965- )

The original text

Written specifically for the 1995 Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) in Oudtshoorn, the play consists of three short one act plays dealing with disillusion and despair. The works are linked through transitional scenes in which the characters hear about each other by reading a newspaper, and each play centres on the ritual of the braai. In the first play a family secret is revcealed in the ubteraction between a mother, her sons and the youngest daughter in law. The second play deals with a homosexual relationship between friends and the third tells of a young Afrikaner's disillusion with the advent of the millenium.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1995: First performed at the KKNK in 1995, directed by Charles J. Fourie, with Lida Botha, Morné Visser, Johann Myburgh, Jana van Niekerk and Abey Xakwé.

1995: Performed (with the same cast) in the Dock Road Theatre, Cape Town.

Sources

http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsF/fourie-charles-j.php#56459

https://www.wikiwand.com/af/Charles_Fourie

Braai by Willemien Brümmer (1974-)

The original text

The play was originally conceived as a text called Aandlied ("Evening song"), and submitted for the the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees and the Dagbreek-trust's text development project. The concept won the award and was then developed, with the help of Schalk Schoombie and Marthinus Basson to become a fully developed play called Braai ("Barbecue"), which was first performed at the KKNK in 2014.

The play looks at the cycle of violence that seems to characterize life on South African farms and in South African families.