There was nothing unusual when Jan "Braai" Scannell, the man behind the Braai4Heritage initiative, overturned some boerewors on a braaiing stand outside the Africa Media Matrix building at Rhodes University last Thursday.
There was nothing unusual when Jan "Braai" Scannell, the man behind the Braai4Heritage initiative, overturned some boerewors on a braaiing stand outside the Africa Media Matrix building at Rhodes University last Thursday.
South Africans across the country have long done so. Whether it be in a popular "shisa nyama" hangout in the township, or a cosy eating place in town, or someone's back yard on a farm, braaiing has become a distinctly proudly South African tradition.
The unusual part came when a TV cameraman poked his camera into Scannell's face and Scannell – as the red light that signals recording lit up – began talking about why every South African should embrace braaing. By doing so, he said, they would be embracing a common Mzansi identity.
As the burning-meat-scented smoke drifted overhead, Scannell (who likes to go by the name Jon Braai) briefly addressed about 20 Rhodes University journalism students. "Every South African likes the smell we're smelling now," he told the students, before he made a humorous appeal to the journo students gathered before him to "remember me when you're famous and influential" to publicise the initiative.
Scannell, who came up with the idea for Braai Day on 24 September (officially National Heritage Day), was in Grahamstown on Thursday as part of a nationwide Braai4Heritage tour, which aims to have 40 braais in 40 national heritage sites in 40 days. Some of the sites already visited are the Big Hole in Kimberley, Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, and the Royal Palace of King Goodwill Zwelithini in KwaZulu-Natal. "It's not a job for one man," Scannell told Grocott's Mail at the Rhodes braai.
"I need the support of the nation, because Braai Day is a national event." On Wednesday last week, Scannell and his travelling team of six had braaied in East London. Jeffrey's Bay, on Friday, was their next braai destination after Grahamstown. The first stop was the Western Cape Fynbos, in Cape Town, on 13 March. The tour concludes in Robben Island on 21 April.
