The East Side Cafe, set to open in June on Shurling Drive, is being launched by Towanda Diadill and Shawntae Brown, both lifelong East Macon residents who say the neighborhood has lacked healthy dining and sit-down restaurant options for years.<\/p>\n
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\n New restaurant in East Macon aiming to offer healthier alternatives to the community
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Federal data identifies East Macon as a food desert, meaning many residents live far from supermarkets or stores offering fresh produce and healthy food choices. While the area has several fast-food chains, the owners say there are few locally owned sit-down restaurants.<\/p>\n
Diadill said the idea for the cafe came from witnessing those challenges firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cA more purpose now \u2014 a more purpose to help East Macon,\u201d Diadill said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen the restaurants come and go in this community. I\u2019ve seen the dry desert of food in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diadill, who was born and raised in East Macon, will oversee the cooking, while Brown will help manage the business.<\/p>\n
Brown said she immediately believed in her friend\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cEast Macon does need a good place to go eat,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t have that place to cook or no one to cook you that Sunday dinner, Mrs. Wanda can provide you with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents said the need for more healthy and community-centered food options is clear.<\/p>\n
Y\/O Latimore, who lives in East Macon, said access to grocery stores and fresh produce remains limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that is healthy, like a Panera, we don\u2019t have that on the East Side,\u201d Latimore said.<\/p>\n
Latimore also said the restaurant could help address broader issues in the community, including neighborhood blight and a lack of gathering spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cFood has always been the way we came together, no matter whether it\u2019s race or class,\u201d Latimore said.<\/p>\n
The owners plan to host one of their first public events Saturday with a Mother\u2019s Day-themed soft opening featuring menu tastings and community activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cA tasting of what East Side Cafe will have on their menu throughout the week,\u201d Diadill said. \u201cYou also will experience gathering and great friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two East Macon women aim to transform an area classified as food desert into a culinary oasis with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[210,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-783614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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