Kevin And Harley Smith Bring Back 'Vegan Abattoir' Podcast To Spotlight Local Businesses

Kevin Smith and Harley Quinn Smith recently revived their podcast, Vegan Abattoir, as a YouTube show that spotlights their favorite local businesses.

The first episode is titled “This Restaurant Shouldn’t Have Survived.” It features the Smiths interviewing Bee and Wali, the owners of BeeWali’s Vegan AF in Los Angeles.

Kevin Smith is a filmmaker best known for the Clerks franchise. He and Harley, a musician, actor, and Kevin’s daughter, started Vegan Abattoir in 2020. Both are vegan, and have talked extensively about the positive impact eating plant-based had on Kevin’s health and recovery after he had a severe “widowmaker” heart attack in 2018.

The original Vegan Abattoir format saw the Smiths tackle common questions about plant-based food, debunk myths, and interview guests, while the revived show has focused on a different restaurant for each of its four episodes, including Maya’s Cookies, Element Vegan Cuisine, Gooey Center Bakery, and BeeWali’s Vegan AF.

“I hate vegetables,” said Smith during the introduction to episode one, before explaining that Harley helped him find all the places in Los Angeles that he could eat “dirty” vegan food. “As we came into this incarnation of Vegan Abattoir, we said, ‘Let’s do that.’ Let’s highlight a bunch of cool vegan vendors in the area.”

He added that “the biggest complaint” from omnivores is that vegan food isn’t good, and that the show will “disprove that” and “honor those who have helped us on our vegan journey; who have given us so many delicious options over the years.”

‘Mediterranean food with an Indian twist’

From left to right, photo shows Bee and Wali, the founders of Beewalis's Vegan AF, speaking to Harley and Kevin Smith — Kevin Smith / YouTube Bee told the Smiths that she and Wali also went vegan for health reasons

Jess Cruz, the creator and founder of Vegan Street Fair, appeared in the first episode of the revamped Vegan Abattoir show to introduce Beewali’s Vegan AF, which she described as “Mediterranean food with an Indian twist.”

The Beewali’s menu includes dishes such as the vegan kebab plate, shawarma, tikka masala, burgers, plant-based BLTs, a loaded falafel plate, and baskets of fries.

The episode also features a brief cameo from Ben Affleck, a longtime collaborator, whom the Smiths ask to sample and review homemade hummus on camera. Who described it as “quite good,” and said, “I am a hummus guy.”