If you walk through Harlem you may come upon a restaurant called Strictly Roots on 7th Ave. and 121st St. It is different from the other restaurants in the community; it is a vegetarian restaurant. Strictly Roots is a family-owned business that was started by a man name Dee Cee and a school friend. It's been in existence for ten years.

Dee Cee was influenced by Marcus Garvey's teachings of self reliance for black people and also by brothers before him who ventured out and became successful in their own businesses. It is different from other restaurants - it's a vegetarian restaurant. Dee Cee has been a vegetarian himself for 19 years. He decided there weren't any vegetarian restaurants where he and his family can eat so he started his own restaurant. That way other vegetarians can eat there as well.

His restaurant benefits the community in many ways. For one, it offers the opportunity for people in the community to work at his restaurant. It also provides an alternative diet for people in the community. He stated that many illnesses in the community are linked to our diet, we have a bad diet that is based on meat and processed food. He thinks it helps the community in a huge way because it offers people an alternative to a diet, which is killing them.

Strictly Roots is also different in that they have a poetry night. It's a program that was started to benefit the community, stated Dee Cee. The opportunity is open for poets within the community who want to share their inspiration. It's a free event that doesn't require people to spend any money. People who want to share their inspiration with others are asked to come.

Dee Cee feels that they are also different than other restaurants in the community because their service matters. They don't serve anything that crawls, walks, swims or flies; that in itself sets them apart from other restaurants in the community. And, in fact, the entire city, stated Dee Cee. His restaurant try¼s to promote a family-type environment where they promote anything with young, anything with building up the community. Strictly Roots donates leftover food to City Harvest so that hungry New Yorkers who can't afford to buy food can get something to eat.

Their menu regularly contains items from all over the world and from the Caribbean, which is where they are from, stated Dee Cee. Their recipes have been modified from existing recipes and taken from other cultures from all over the world. They don't promote any specific type of culture in vegetarian food, stated Dee Cee. They use Chinese recipes, Western recipes and Caribbean recipes.

They must have some good recipes because they get customers from all over. They get customers from Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Rockland County, Brooklyn as well as people who live and work in the community who go there to eat. They also get people from different cultural backgrounds. They get white people, native Americans, black, Chinese, Japanese, European tourist, and all different types of people.

Dee Cee hopes to see his business increase in the next five years if everything continues to go smoothly and continues to be blessed by the Creator. He would like to elevate their service to provide a more upscale table service besides the cafeteria service they have currently. He thinks it will separate them further from other restaurants in the community. There is no other restaurant doing that type of business in the community.

His message to those in the community who want to have their own business is that perseverance is the key to success. It requires an idea, a vision. He believes if you are a young person and have a dream, you should pursue it without any hesitation and devote all your energy to achieving that goal.

I feel that it's a good restaurant that is different from others in the community and gives people in the community an opportunity to try some new and different food for a change. I hope they keep on doing what they are doing to help change the community in a positive way.