[okmokmz]

>A vegan is someone who refuses to eat any animal products

Yes, that is the definition of vegan as a noun. As an adjective vegan is describing food using or containing no animal products

i.e. traditional dishes that don't contain animal products are technically vegan, just like all other dishes that don't contain animal products

It's absolutely not hijacking traditional culture. I'm not mandating they call that dish vegan, I'm not saying that it is an american vegan dish, I'm simply saying that there are plenty of traditional dishes that are vegan by definition. Hummus, as an example

[mytailorisrich]

Vegan as an adjective is a new term, or at least its use has exploded. This has happened partly for political purposes to hijack aspects of culture, and partly for marketing purposes as a result of this.

[okmokmz]

Those are unfounded assumptions and opinions. It also doesn't change the fact that that is the current definition of vegan. You can use the word however you want, but the way I'm using it is correct based on the dictionary definition

[mytailorisrich]

Why has the use of the term exploded? Why should 'good old' dishes suddenly be labeled?