I'm sorry to hear that OP had problems with the special meal. I'm a vegetarian and been flying mostly business on LH and never had issues with the special meal. Maybe because I fly the long haul - India-Germany-US & back.

Maybe it is an issue with the vegan meal? I order the Asian Vegetarian. Though, I'm tempted to try something else now as it is getting monotonous as many times it gets repeated. But then, I also travel frequently, so cannot expect them to change the menu all the time.