A Convention Of Cooking Outside Happens In Many Places

I have been very lucky in my time that I have had a very cosmopolitan professional life, having had workmates from all over the planet. I can say with some authority that I have never encountered an Australian I didn’t like, and having lived in a land that’s full of them when I was in Canberra, it’s no mean feat not to have found one unpleasant example. Of course, Canberra is not like the rest of Australia as it is a false environment built for government purposes, but still.

From 2000 forwards, I found myself more and more in the company of South Africans, lots of whom were emigrating from the homeland as circumstances deteriorated both economically and socially. Many had played their trump card of British passport qualification through immigrant grandparents or other reasons of ancestry. But also many were Afrikaners and black Africans who don’t have that convenient way to leave but still opted to take their skills for greater rewards elsewhere.

To a man and woman I have found them, despite the famous “Spitting Image” song, polite, good humoured and great fun to be with. Also to a man and woman, they remain steadfast that it was South Africans that conceived the idea of cooking outdoors. The braaivleis (Afrikaans meaning roasted meat) is a cultural institution on a par with rugby and diamonds.

In the past, people would drive out into the veld, hunt down antelope such as gazelle, kudu or Wildebeest for the larger party. They’d shoot it, skin and butcher it, dig a hole and build a fire and roast the animal carcass, usually whole. They cannot do that very easily these days as the aminal life is rather better protected and hunting is strictly licensed, but the custom of the braai remains as a vital social event which no summer party of any size is complete without.

Australians are also confident that they thought up the idea through the barbeque. Although the hunting element is mostly missing, and made difficulty by not being as varied as in the South African tradition. Kangaroos are very tasty but really difficult and time consuming to get the meat right (it has to hang for at least 2 weeks which somewhat loses the element of spontaneity) and most other possibilities are too small (possums), cute (koalas, wombats), inedible (dingoes, platypus) or too lethal (practically all other wildlife on the continent) to contemplate, the Aussies take huge pride in the outdoor tradition.

Here, we don’t have wildlife trapping and scoffing but we can still make the most of the barbeque, and in recent years the equipment available has developed out of all proportion. For example we have makers such as weber bbq who produce weber gas grills which help get rid of the randomness of building an old fashioned fire and introduce reliability and the capacity to use the equipment in all weathers should the need arise.

Some of the weber gas grills now come with total portability which means that you can carry them with you on a trip out to the beach or picnic which further takes away the irritation of used coals being left behind on the sands which is a normal hazard of the disposable barbecue or lightweight charcoal burners.

Of course the colonials can argue and have their faith over the beginning of the invention, but in the era of the Mongol hordes, as Genghis Khan ran amok throughout the known world of antiquity, his soldiers didn’t have a weber bbq so instead they used to cook on upturned shields over an open fire and cook their meat on there, and so probably have the better claim overall.

Want to find out more about bbq then visit 2bbq site on how to choose the best charcoal bbq for your needs.