What it means
A braai is a South African cookout, but calling it just a barbecue misses the whole smoke-soaked point. It's food, fire, hanging out, and at least one loud opinion about coals, wood, and who's touching the meat too soon. In South Africa, a braai isn't just dinner. It's the plan.
Usage examples
"He spent forty minutes arranging the coals in a perfect pyramid before anyone was allowed near the braai. The boerewors was incredible though, so nobody complained out loud."
"My cousin reckons a braai isn’t a braai without boerewors, pap, and at least one argument about whether to flip the chops twice or three times."
"Heritage Day weekend, every backyard from Joburg to Cape Town smelling of woodsmoke, neighbours leaning over the fence with their own tongs. Braai season."
"We're not doing burgers on the grill, bru, we're having a proper braai, so bring wood and come hungry."
"The whole street smelled like a Sunday braai by four o'clock, with everybody standing round the fire acting like grill philosophers."
Where it comes from
Braai comes from Afrikaans, from braaivleis, literally roast meat. That grew out of Dutch braden, meaning to roast. In South Africa the word stopped being just about the meat ages ago and became the whole ritual, fire, food, hanging about, and the social event wrapped round it.
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