2010 Championship Boerewors Finalists Announced!

They came from all corners of South Africa to prove their skill in making the best traditional boerewors. From Tzaneen in the north, to Qwaqwa in the east, from Vredendal in the west all the way south to Hout Bay, from bushveld lapas to seaside gazebos - more than a 1000 homemakers, butchers, farmers, businessmen, mechanics - passionate boereworsmakers in all shapes and sizes - brought their secret boerewors recipes to join the battle for the title of 2010 Shoprite Checkers Boerewors Champion. 

And it was the daunting task of 416 expert judges from the South African Chef’s Association to carefully taste and judge each and every one of these unique boerewors entries – raw and cooked – which resulted in more than 45 000 pieces of boerewors being tasted during 93 regional and provincial elimination rounds! 

Now, finally, only the ten best boereworsmakers remain standing as they emerged victorious from the nail-biting provincial rounds held on 18 September in which eighty-three of the country’s best boerewors-makers put up a last good fight for a spot in the much anticipated grand finale. 

The ten finalists will travel to Sun City for the final battle that takes place in the Valley of Waves on 2 October where the winner will drive away with a brand new Toyota Hilux 2.7 Double Cab Raised Body Raider and the much sought after 2010 Boerewors crown! 
The ten finalists for the Sun City Grand Finale are:

• Eastern Cape – Rudolf Cornelius Herrmann is a Meat Market manager at Checkers Queenstown 
• Free State – Hendrik Botha from Willows, Bloemfontein, is a meat market manager at Kenworth Spar in Rocklands. 
• Gauteng – Maria Muyambo, a veteran in this competition, holds the title of 2003 Shoprite Checkers Boerewors Champion and was a finalist in the 2004 Boerewors Championship. Maria is from Meadowlands and works as the Meat Market manager at Shoprite Pimville. 
• Gauteng – Jaco Labuschagne from Burton Park in Boksburg is a 13-year old learner who spends his days at Concordia Primary School. 
• KwaZulu-Natal – Alice Dunn resides in Estcourt where she is Meat Market manager in the local Shoprite. 
• Limpopo – Roelf Petrus van Rooyen lives in Potgietersus and is the Meat Market manager of Shoprite Mokopane. 
• Mpumalanga – Lawrence Francois Nel is a block man and manager at the Laeveld Butchery in Barberton. 
• North West – Martie Lotz is a primary school teacher at La Hoff Primary in her hometown, Klerksdorp. 
• Northern Cape – Carol de Jager is a free-lance photographer from Kathu 
• Western Cape – Jasper Johannes Gordon lives in the Strand and is Meat Market manager at Checkers Somerset West

Top food experts Martin Kobald (award winning chef and Honorary President of the SA Chefs Association), Peter Veldsman (author of several cookbooks and owner of Emily’s Restaurant in Cape Town), Carmen Niehaus (YOU and Huisgenoot Food Editor), Jenny Morris (also known as “The Giggling Gourmet” and owner of a successful catering company); Reuben Riffel (Chef de Cuisine and co-owner Reuben’s Restaurant in Franschhoek); and Arnold Tanzer (Sunday Times Chef of the Year 2008 and Director – African Continent and Middle East, World Association of Chef’s Societies) – will act as official judges during the final at Sun City and make sure that only the best of the best is selected as the 2010 Championship Boerewors. 

The 2010 Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors will receive the South African Chefs Association’s Seal of Approval, ensuring that South Africa’s best loved boerewors is the best of the very best! 

Brumilda van Rensburg and Soli Philander will be the compères for Championship Boerewors grand finale. Brumilda is a favourite of the South African public for her role as Louwna in the long-running M-Net soapie, Egoli and has appeared in several acclaimed theatre productions. Multi-award-winning performer, Soli, has featured in South Africa’s entertainment and media industry for more than twenty years and is known as a radio and television presenter, actor, director, comedian, playwright and columnist. 

This year Huisgenoot Musiekplaas will also join in the excitement of the finale, providing top class entertainment with exceptional South African musical talent such as Izak Davel, David Fourie, Neil Somers, Dewald Louw, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Bianca le Grange, Monique Steyn, Viljoen Retief, Jessica Truter and special appearances by Nataniel, Kurt Darren and Mandoza. 

Shoprite and Checkers is proud of South Africa’s boerewors heritage and to celebrate this the supermarket group annually hosts the Championship Boerewors Competition which searches for the country’s best traditional boerewors recipe. The group is renowned for the excellent quality of the meat available at their Meat Markets and they are continuously looking for new recipes and ideas in order to offer customers the best. The annual Boerewors Championship is instrumental in achieving that goal. 

Those who will not have the opportunity to taste the supermarket group’s new Championship Boerewors at Sun City will fortunately not have to wait too long to obtain it. From 14 October this product will be available under the 2010 Championship Boerewors label in the Meat Markets at Shoprite, Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores country-wide. 

For more information on winners, prizes and competition events visit the Championship Boerewors web site: www.championshipboerewors.co.za.