Supermarket chain uses calendar to inspire comeback after Melissa

For more than a decade, General Food Supermarket has produced an admired calendar, a glossy 48-page booklet spanning 15 months and prized for its recipes.

From seafood and vegetarian dishes to cocktails and hot drinks, the calendar has long been a fixture in Jamaican kitchens. Many thought the formula could not be bettered. Until now.

The 2026 edition, expanded to 52 pages, goes beyond dates and recipes. It carries a patriotic message, urging Jamaicans to rebuild after the devastation of Hurricane Melissa. Its cover shows a hibiscus cutting in a plastic container, roots protruding, one flower in bloom and another yet to open, set against a lush countryside backdrop. Across it runs the title: ‘A Year for Renewal’.

Inside, the message is captioned ‘May We Bloom and Grow’: “After Melissa’s passing, Jamaica rises once more – changed, challenged, yet determined. Like a seedling pushing through hardened earth, we press on… Across our island, nature offers living reminders that renewal follows adversity: green shoots return, hillsides brighten, and renewal takes root.”

The additional four pages feature images of Jamaican life — pineapples on a stall, bananas in a field, a fisherman in his boat, coffee beans drying, Holland Bamboo — eschewing depictions of destruction. They are accompanied by excerpts from Replenishment, A Prayer After Melissa by Kwame Dawes, Jamaica’s poet laureate. “May rainfall replenish the mountain streams. May the green of restoration wildly spread across the broken land… Hallelujah! Amen!” reads one.

General Food insists the calendar is not just about the supermarket, but about inspiring gratitude and solidarity. Sharon Chin, co-editor and recipe coordinator, said: “We wanted to say something, but the opening message alone would not have been enough… your verses add the salt that the whole thing needed.” She hopes the calendar will encourage Jamaicans “to offer assistance in any way possible … One Love, One Jamaica.”

The rest of the calendar, running from January 2026 to March 2027, retains its familiar format: recipes paired with each month, complete with full-colour photographs. January features Barilla’s Creamy Genovese Pesto Shrimp Skewers; February, Stone’s Ginger Wine Cheesecake; March, Rainforest’s Coconut Curry Salmon. Dates for double points in the supermarket’s Very Important Customer loyalty scheme are also marked.

editorial@gleanerjm.com