DIE GESKIEDENIS VAN BRAAI-BROODJIES, 1652 tot nou

159pp., illus., hardback, Flyleaf, Cape Town, 2026

ISBN: 9781067218621

Frans de Villiers spent years investigating the origins of one of South Africa’s most popular braai dishes - a sandwich made with white bread, cheese, onions, tomatoes and chutney and toasted over the fire - and discusses how the history of the humble braai sandwich tells the story of the Afrikaner nation.

During his research he consulted eighteenth-century recipe books, early travel journals, Jan van Riebeeck’s diary, handwritten family recipes, Voortrekker diaries, newspapers from the 1930s to the 1950s, thousands of old issues of Huisgenoot, letters from church archives, and historical texts from Stellenbosch University’s Special Collections.