Sat Oct 25 12:13:00 UTC 2003
A woman on Saturday walked away with the title of South Africa’s boerewors champion after a nationwide search to find the country’s best boerewors recipe. She is Maria Munyambo, Meat Market Manager at Shoprite Eldorado Park.
Maria, who has twenty years’ service with the supermarket group, was overwhelmed at winning the competition. “I think it will only hit me tomorrow or the day after – it does not feel real yet”, she said later in the afternoon while talking to the media. “My secret is the right combination of spices, as well as the way the meat mixture is mixed. If not properly mixed by hand, the flavours will not spread evenly throughout the boerewors. Meat Market staff get a lot of training on the products we produce, and I am grateful to Shoprite for teaching me how to make boerewors,” she said.
Thousands of people watched at Sun City on Saturday as boerewors makers from various provinces competed for the crown after two months of mincing, spicing, tasting and more tasting during which thousands of entries for South Africa’s Championship Boerewors Competition were whittled down to nine finalists. Maria Munyambo’s recipe took the honours.
More than 5 190 kilograms of boerewors were produced and tasted in 75 tasting sessions across the country during the two elimination rounds that preceded Saturday’s grand finals at the Valley of the Waves at Sun City.
Maria also became the proud owner of a Toyota Hilux 2700i 4x4 Double Cab Raider valued at R314 000 and a Multibraai gas braai worth R7 000. The first runner up was Joe Pretorius from KwaZulu-Natal while the second runner up was also a woman, Catherine Groeners from the Western Cape. They each received a Multibraai valued at R7 000 and Shoprite Checkers gift vouchers worth R5 000 and R2 000 respectively.
While her son was understandably excited about the fact that his mother has won a 4x4, Maria said she will have to make plans to get her drivers license before being able to enjoy the grand prize.
This year’s nine finalists, of who four are women, are from various cultural backgrounds making this a truly South African event representative of our proud rainbow nation. The other six finalists are: Nellie Schmidt, a consumer from North West; Flip Nel, a consumer from the Limpopo Province; Piet Majoang, Meat Market Manager from the Free State; James Ferreira, a consumer from the Eastern Cape; Joseph van Heerden, a consumer from the Northern Cape; and Lettie van der Merwe, a consumer from Mpumalanga.
The independent judging panel comprised Joanne Strauss, Pasella presenter and former Miss SA; Carmen Niehaus, food editor of Huisgenoot and You; Kevin Gibbs, member of the SA Chefs Association Guild; Sonia Cabano, presenter of Kyknet’s “Van Pampoen tot Perlemoen”; Francois Rautenbach, who plays Tiaan in SABC2’s popular 7de Laan; and Archi Masebe, Promotions Manager for Toyota SA.
Shoprite Checkers presents the Championship Boerewors Challenge annually as it assists the supermarket group in staying abreast with consumer needs, says Brian Weyers, Marketing Director of the Shoprite Group of Companies.
“The Championship Boerewors competition helps the supermarket group to find a traditional boerewors recipe that will appeal to the majority of consumers in the country, and enables us to provide a quality product that reflects the value on offer in the Meat Market departments of all our stores,” says Weyers.
As in the past, the winning recipe will be produced in all Shoprite and Checkers stores countrywide under the label of Championship Boerewors as from 5 November 2003.