As Jamaica grapples with the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, the worst storm to hit the region in living memory, brothers Craig and Shaun McAnuff of Original Flava are stepping up.
Their response is bold: a 12-hour cookathon to raise funds for families whose lives have been torn apart across the island.
So, why 12 hours? Because that’s the minimum amount of time the brothers leave their food to marinate before cooking - a ritual deeply woven into Original Flava’s philosophy. In their world, twelve isn’t just a number. It’s tradition.
“We always talk about marinating food for 12 hours or overnight,” Craig explains.
“So we thought: let’s just cook for 12 hours nonstop.”
As we know, Hurricane Melissa has left a scar across the Caribbean. In Jamaica, 45 people have died and 15 remain missing.
More than one million homes on the island have been damaged or destroyed.
The western parishes - Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and St Elizabeth - have borne the brunt. Roads have disappeared under landslides, roofs have been torn from houses, agriculture has been devastated with billions in damage and entire communities have been left unreachable.
Telecommunications are down across large swathes of the country. Many households have no running water, no fuel, no power.
The Ministry of Health has intensified surveillance for leptospirosis, a bacterial infection that thrives in flood conditions. For thousands, basic survival has become a daily struggle.
Original Flava has long been celebrated for promoting Jamaican cuisine and culture on the global stage and the brothers say the disaster demands more than sympathy. It demands action.
Craig spoke with Black Current News about why now and why Jamaica needs all of us.
“Jamaica has given so much to us”
For Craig, the motivation is rooted in identity and upbringing, given their family’s Jamaican heritage.
“Without Jamaica, we wouldn’t be here…the bedrock of Original Flava is Jamaica. The recipes, the culture, the love, the history.”
His mother was on the island when the hurricane hit, having travelled for a family funeral.
Watching the destruction unfold while knowing family were in the eye of it sharpened the sense of responsibility.
“This is the least that we could do,” he said, “not just showcase Jamaica for what it is, but the unity that it brings.”
From 11 am - 11 pm today (20 November), the brothers will cook a mix of classic and signature dishes from “bully beef“ (or corned beef) and ackee & saltfish with fried dumplings to pepper steak, curry chicken and more.
A full schedule has been posted on the Original Flava Instagram account.
There’ll be a cook-off between the brothers, as well as appearances from special guests including pop star Leigh-Anne Pinnock and BBC 1Xtra presenter Shayne Marie, with more names still to be announced.
Supporters can join by cooking along at home, following recipes and timings posted in advance.
The event will be broadcast live to over 850,000 followers across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The pair are encouraging people to donate towards an accompanying fundraiser if they can.
“People have lost every single thing”
Craig has been hearing reports from relatives and friends across Jamaica, especially in the west, where the devastation is most severe.
“When the Category 5 was announced, that’s when everybody said this is going to be very serious.”
Homes have been flattened. Roads have buckled. Families have been displaced into shelters or stranded in pockets where help still can’t reach.
“People have lost every single thing…including their livelihoods,” Craig says.
In some areas, access to clean water is patchy. Power lines are down. Fuel is scarce. Food supply routes have been cut off by flooding and fallen trees.
“People are crying out for help,” he says plainly.
Partnership
With the scale of destruction so vast, the question becomes: where should people donate?
Keen to ensure funds reach those most affected, the brothers have been in direct contact with Food For The Poor Jamaica - an organisation long recognised for serving underserved communities.
“We trust them,” Craig says. “They’re on the ground, they’ve been doing this for years.”
He urges the diaspora not to let scepticism get in the way of lifesaving help.
“You can question everything…but at the end of the day, you have to put your money where your mouth is and do what you can.”
The deeper bond
Since bursting onto the scene around 2016, Original Flava has grown into a global phenomenon with residences, best-selling cookbooks, merchandise, close to a million followers and more than 100 million video views.
Craig and Shaun are more than award-winning chefs. They are cultural ambassadors for Jamaica.
Their love of cooking began with their mother and grandmother - women who, in Craig’s words, “could run four or five pots at once without breaking a sweat.”
“Everything in Original Flava’s essence is Jamaica…not just tasting the food, it’s more about the feeling of gathering, of people, community, family, that Sunday dinner together after church (…),” he says.
Craig also celebrates Jamaica’s culinary inheritance - the ability to turn discarded ingredients into “premium cuisines” from oxtail to cowfoot.
“Despite challenges we’ve been through as an island, as a people, we’ve always united together,” he says.
It’s that same resilience and “talawah spirit” that he sees in Jamaicans today.
A long road ahead - but hope remains
For Craig, this cookathon should not invite a one-off burst of attention from those who can help.
“I want this conversation to keep going…it’s going to be a long journey to rebuilding,” he says.
The chef believes Jamaica’s recovery will be shaped by unity at home and across the diaspora.
“If we unite for the long term, it will build back even greater than before.”
Craig leaves readers with a message of collective strength.
“There’s power in your thoughts, in your actions… challenges are not there to define you, but to refine you and make you better.”
Despite the destruction, he believes Jamaica will rise stronger.
“After all of this, it’ll be an even better place.”
For more information, visit: https://originalflava.com/meals/15681/
