More than just jerk chicken
Original Flava are aback with more great flavour-packed recipes
Shaun and Craig McAnuff – the brothers behind food sensation Original Flava, with nearly 160k followers on Instagram – admit vegan dishes weren’t a huge part of their childhood dinners.
Growing up in a Caribbean household in South London, meat was very much the main event, but that’s shifted now, with the duo experimenting more with plant-based foods – and their mum has even been a vegan since 2017.
Their new book is called Natural Flava, and Shaun dubs it “the first step into trying to draw people into a healthier, happier diet – because most of the Afro-Caribbean community [are] predominantly meat [eating]”. He wants to show people
how to strike a balance, saying: “We’re not trying to tell people to be vegans. We’re not militant, because I don’t think that’s the best way to introduce things to people. Only two or three times a week – change your diet, that’s the best way to start.”
The Caribbean diet might be meat-heavy, but the McAnuffs found it easy to put together plant-based recipes from their culture. Growing up, “Vegetables were used in the sides – but they were very flavourful sides”, explains Craig. “It was always an eclectic range of different vegetables, rather than just Brussels sprouts.”
A big inspiration for many of the recipes is the Rastafari movement, with one section of the book dubbed ‘Ital inspired’ (a belief that food should be grown locally and unmodified). Shaun calls them one of “the pioneers of vegan, plant-based foods”. Food is spiritual for Rastas, with Shaun saying: “It’s all about eating from the earth and looking after your body.”
Craig continues: “The Rastafarian movement is not just about the food – it’s about how to preserve Mother Nature, respecting the environment a lot more. That’s why they say the earth and everything that is birthed naturally is good for you, whether that is food, whether that is remedies. They always encourage to use what’s natural, so that was really the pivoting inspiration for this book.”
Before releasing their first book in 2019, Original Flava, the brothers made a pilgrimage to Jamaica – and it’s the plantbased food they really remember the most. “The best meal I ever had was a vegan meal in Jamaica,” Craig reminisces. “It was incredible. It was different vegan dishes on one plate – stewed peas, pumpkin, slaw, curried tofu, rice and peas – all in one bowl. We’ve taken that excitement and vibrancy, and those Caribbean ingredients to what we’re doing now.”
Caribbean ingredients are certainly front and centre in the book, and the brothers could wax lyrical about them for hours – including callaloo (“like spinach”, says Shaun), ackee (“which is a fruit, but it’s eaten like a vegetable”), and, of course, plantain.
Plantain recipes run throughout the book, but you won’t just see it as a fried side dish. It’s in stews, lasagnes, desserts, hummus – there’s even a recipe for making your own plantain milk.
lNatural Flava: Quick And Easy Plant-Based Caribbean Recipes is priced £22.