Gareth Daniell

Pretoria’s Gareth Daniell (aka BraaiBoy), started braaing every single day on the 17^th April 2009 and has done so ever since. Why? Well, it started out as a bold claim that was followed by a dare to braai every day for a year.

From the 23rd to the 25th August, Gareth  rewrote the record books when he braai’d for  62 hours, 6 minutes and 16 seconds non-stop at SuperSport Park in Centurion, and by doing so shattered the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous braai.

We had a chat with Gareth about braaing, the future and his favourite braai-spot in Pretoria:

Where, how and why did your BraaiBoy persona come about?

As with most good great ideas, a little bit of alcohol was involved.

It started off when a bunch of mates & I were chilling around a braai and one of them quipped how lekker it would be to braai every day of the week. A while later, a few bold claims by myself turned into a dare by them, and the dare was to braai every day for a year.

Once the year was nearly up, I was having so much fun, and it seemed that everyone I told about the story seemed so intrigued that I decided to simply carry on and thus the BraaiBoy character was born and I decided to have some fun.

Do you do all the braai-ing yourself?

Most of the time, yes, however many of my buddies (as with most South Africans) are avid braaiers themselves, so whenever we have a weekend braai at someone’s house there are inevitably at least 3 or 4 “BraaiMasters” around the grill, and then each guy will take charge of his own meat, but more often than not, I’m left in charge.

What are the rules?

As far as I know, I’m the only one on this sort of a quest, so I get to make up the rules as I go along. However, I have set myself some standards:

There must be an open flame (i.e. in extreme circumstances even gas counts, but a stove wouldn’t), there must be meat present. Braaing veggies etc. is fine (in fact there are some damn awesome side dish recipes out there), but there must at least be a piece or two of meat on the braai, potjie counts as a braai, I don’t physically do ALL the braaing all the time: I just need to be present at the braai (and partake of the results of course). Especially in the case of a potjie: Each guy has his own style when it comes to the perfect potjie, and then I typically don’t get involved. I’ll at least help start the fire though J

 What are some of your highlights so far?

Tough one – Every braai is a highlight. Even the flops we’ve had on boys weekends and sourced dodgy wors from a “Street Café”. But off the top of my head, it must be when I get invited as a guest judge on TV Shows and other events – I get to meet a wide variety of awesome people like that.

Oh wait… One of my favorite’s has to be when I started braaing in my hotel room in Sun City. I was there for a 3-day conference and had no other options, so I wipped out a disposable braai and did some boerie rolls for lunch – THAT was fun!

You originally only planned to do it for year, but you’re still going. Will you be BraaiBoy forever?

I hope so.

Your favourite braai, hangout and braai-spot in Pretoria?

My house when all my buddies pull in.

Otherwise I’ve had some really good times at:

RidgeBack Village (there’s a cordoned off area at the back for pvt parties), nkwe – but be warned, we’ve often been threatened because our music is too loud – so probably better suited to a “Civilized Sunday Potjie”  and Park Acoustics at the Voortrekker Monument (a recent discovered little gem, with AWESOME views over Pretoria).

What’s next for BraaiBoy?

At the moment, BraaiBoy is a hobby and I have several other responsibilities that take up my time during the day, but I think it would be great if I could take BraaiBoy to the next Level (whatever that might be). In the meantime, I’m appointing BraaiBoy Ambassadors in other Countries and already have 2 ex-pats representing in Northern & Southern Ireland, yes I see the irony, and if we can have a BraaiBoy in every country in the world… well, now that would just be awesome!

To people that would like to keep up to date on how your journey’s going, where can they find you online?

I’m most active on Facebook and twitter (@BraaiBoy), however everyone is on my case about getting my blog in shape, so I’m getting better there and I’ve got an amazing YouTube channel taking shape now too.