Although vegetarian and near vegan diets have been around for several thousand years, the term veganism only began to enter popular usage in the 1940s. Members of the Vegetarian Society coined the term to refer to non-dairy vegetarianism. Of course, vegetarians, who also chose not to consume dairy products, had been around well before then. However, from the middle of the decade, the term vegan began to catch on, and the first vegan society was founded in North America in 1948.