Staff Writer
IT’S no secret that South Africans pride themselves on what they cook on the fire.
Information recently gleaned from data collated by Google over the last year gives insight into the most popular time people like to braai.
Google processes more than 40 000 search queries every second, which translates to more than a billion searches per day, and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.
It shows that South Africans tend to head for the fire pits more than any other time around September 24, when Heritage Day beckons, and round December 20, as Christmas looms.
The Northern Cape seems to have the most interest in braaing throughout the year, and the ever-popular braai broodjies, though not top of everyone's mind, are consistently on the grid.
Looking into some associated terms, shisa nyama, barbeque and spitbraai seem to enjoy similar levels of popularity in the country.
Incidentally, spit-braai tends to be very popular in the Western Cape, while Shisa Nyama is the way to go in KZN.
In December, by contrast, salad gives 'braai' a strong run for its money, maybe it's because this is the month that summer and beach body obsessions take hold, the holidays are upon us, and swimming pools see more action than a Friday night TV movie.