Kevin Smith had a vegan Thanksgiving but ‘We don’t put it in everybody’s face’

We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of Kevin Smith’s near fatal heart attack. Since that frightening wake-up call, Kevin changed many of his habits to live a healthier life. His doctor told him to lose 50 pounds and Kevin chose a plant-based diet to do so, inspired by his vegan daughter, Harley Quinn. Last month was Kevin’s first Thanksgiving with his new lifestyle and, as he mentioned in an interview before T-Day, he was planning on being faithful to it – but that doesn’t mean he’s trying to covert us, because, “he’s not that kind of vegan.”

Kevin Smith’s… first Thanksgiving as a vegan will include a stop at Los Angeles’ Veggie Grill, where he eats almost daily, and Crossroads, an upscale eatery preferred by his vegan daughter Harley and vegetarian wife Jennifer. But don’t get Smith wrong — he’s not “that” kind of vegan.

“I’m not telling you how to live,” said Smith, an advocate for Farm Sanctuary, which is encouraging Thanksgiving celebrants to spare as many turkeys as possible Thursday. “We don’t put it in everybody’s face.”

According to the 48-year-old director, his near-death experience changed his diet, but his daughter lured him into vegan culture.

“She brings you into the vegan cult and they don’t tell you you’re going to become a spokesmodel,” Smith told the Daily News. “Then once I dropped a bunch of weight, the kid was like, ‘Now you have to bring other people into this’ and I was like, ‘What is this a Ponzi scheme?’ And she said, ‘You’re living as an example.’ ”

[From The Daily News]

I know vegans get a bad rap for ‘pushing’ their veganism on other people, but I have never had anyone try to sway me to a vegan diet. Either I am such a lost cause they don’t bother or I don’t know any vegans. I am inclined to think the real answer is most vegans aren’t ‘that kind of vegan’ but the pushy ones get all the press. However, Kevin’s comments about Harley Quinn telling him to ”bring others into this,” are interesting. I wonder if she’s saying that just because Kevin is famous. The good news is that Kevin is healthy and it sounds like whatever changes he’s made will keep him that way. I have to ask, though, what does a vegan Thanksgiving look like?

Another change to Kevin’s life seems to be a kinder, gentler Kevin. Much like his recently admitting his role in his fallout with Ben Affleck, when Kevin was asked about Bill Maher’s comments on the public mourning of Stan Lee’s passing, Kevin gave a pretty classy response. Lee was a friend of Kevin’s and as most know, Kevin’s quite involved in the world of comic books. When asked about Maher’s comments, Kevin responded, “Maybe he doesn’t understand the profound importance of what Stan Lee did from the ‘60s to the early ‘80s, creating a whole universe, it made happy kids grow up to be happy adults. It appears Mr. Maher didn’t have that experience.”. He didn’t let Maher off scot-free, though. Kevin added, “he has a TV show where he argues with people every week. That, to me, seems childish.” Although it’s a few middle fingers short of how I respond to Maher, it’s still a good response.

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Photo credit: Avalon and Instagram

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16 Responses to “Kevin Smith had a vegan Thanksgiving but ‘We don’t put it in everybody’s face’”

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  1. Yiza says:

    A lot of the sides are easy to make vegan! And then tofurky. Vegan pie is pretty easy too. I’m not vegan but members of my family are so we do a mix.

  2. Susie says:

    We had a vegan Friendsgiving and nobody even asked for meat. We are not vegan, but that’s what we like.

  3. manda says:

    Vegans are a mixed bag, just like everyone else out there. I know some women that use veganism to hide their disordered eating habits, but I also know people who have gone vegan to try to avoid diabetes, etc, with great success. I am curious about it, but prob couldn’t go full vegan because I love eggs and cheese. But perhaps vegetarian, some day. I really need to learn how to eat better, however, because I am one of those people creeping into pre-diabetes and I just feel like I’m too young for this! (41) My parents didn’t get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes till they were in their 60’s, I thought I had a little more time. Avoiding sugar and carbs is so hard for me, but not sure that a veggie based diet would address that. I guess I need to go keto, which doesn’t sound that great either!

    • dietcokehead says:

      1. Talk to your healthcare provider before trying Keto. It’s not for everyone.
      2. Vegans are definitely a mixed bag. I had a coworker who never mentioned her veganism. I didn’t know until she had been with us for over a year. She’d just bring dishes she could eat to company celebrations. I have another friend who wrote a lengthy Facebook rant about her son’s “choice to be vegan”….he was six months old, not making any decisions, and exclusively breastfed. 🙄

    • lucy2 says:

      I’m in the same boat as you. My doctor is very practical, and says don’t cut anything 100%, don’t go on a “diet”, just really limit the bad stuff (sugar, flour, potatoes, etc), increase exercise, plenty of water, etc.

  4. Beth says:

    Last year, Thanksgiving was at our cousins house, he told everyone not to bring anything, and forgot to mention that he was now a strict vegan and dinner was made of vegan food. Thankfully a few fast food restaurants were open so nobody was miserable about my cousin who admitted he wanted to convince us all to become vegans.
    I think Kevin is cute, but why does he wear capri pants so much?

    • Chaine says:

      Re the pants, He’s an exhibitionist, he gets a charge out of showing us all his sexaaay ankles.

  5. Chaine says:

    Hahaha, he doesn’t put it in everybody’s faces, except the only thing I hear about him nowadays is repeated news stories where he talks about how great it is to be vegan 😂.

    • lucy2 says:

      Yes! And him putting it on social media, apparently.
      I don’t blame him for being happy and promoting it, but don’t pretend you’re not, dude.

    • Chloeee says:

      I would take this kind of vegan any day. My 19 yr old brother is on the conversion train, claiming we can’t call ourselves animal lovers and calling it an animal holocaust. Ya…it’s been tough because he just cannot accept we won’t drop everything and do what he says

  6. SJhere says:

    I find Kevin funny and several of his movies make me laugh every time I watch them. Clerks and Dogma hold up well, IMO.

    He looks great and good for him for doing whatever he can to take care of himself. I’ve noticed when someone makes a big change they want to share/convert you to their new thing. Be it stop smoking, join my church, join my health club, even lets join a knitting group together, nothing wrong with any of it.

    As for diets and vegan lifestyles, live and let live. I have 2 major food allergies, so I bring my own meals when I am a guest. Not a big deal for me until some rude tool insists on focusing on me/my plate and putting me in the hot seat. If I join others at a restaraunt, I order something safe. I don’t want to put myself in danger and I don’t want to put the hosts to a lot of extra trouble. Nobody with a food allergy wants to be paying for an ER trip, IMO. Ruins the day, don’t cha know?

  7. tealily says:

    Kevin Smith > Bill Maher any day of the week.

  8. Other Renee says:

    Not all vegan food is healthy. There’s a lot of fat in many of the foods prepared in restaurants such as Veggie Grill and many of the prepared foods now found at grocery stores. This is to improve taste. So you still need to read labels and check ingredients.

    My daughter and her boyfriend are vegan. So we have had vegan Thanksgiving the past two years and last year I hosted a vegan Passover Seder for eight. (I used a plastic Easter egg on the Seder plate!) They all knew it would be vegan. No one left hungry and these meals were really fantastic.

  9. BANANIE says:

    A cool new Southern/Cajun/Vegan restaurant opened up in my city. I haven’t tried it and don’t really care to, but I’ve heard good things about the plant-based “shrimp” and grits and “boudain” balls.

    Best thing- on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the chef explains she went this route because her “son turned vegan.”

    Like, not became. Turned. Like a vampire or werewolf! I thought that was too good.

  10. Shasha says:

    Wow, honestly, all I can say is that Kevin looks amazing and he actually looks more than 20 years younger than he did before this vegan thing kicked in! He almost doesn’t even look old enough to be a Dad now, and he’s almost 50!