Swedish teen shells out for giant lobster

“I love everything about seafood and really wanted to buy it as a special treat for my family on New Year’s Eve,” Sandgren told The Local.

A fisherman had pulled out the giant crustacean, which weighed in at 4.65 kilogrammes and measured 90 centimetres, the week before Christmas, from the waters outside of Kullaberg, in Sweden’s southernmost county.

It was put up for auction on New Year’s Eve, an event advertised in regional newspapers. Sandgren immediately decided to buy it.

Despite usually being very frugal, she wasn’t put off by paying over 4,000 kronor for a New Year’s meal.

“I decided I was going to have it at any price,” Sandgren told Sveriges Radio (SR).

Having always worked hard, Sandgren has been putting money away since she was sixteen, working as a hairdresser and a personal assistant.

And according to fishmonger Christoffer Itzigehl, the lobster may well be over 30 years of age.

“It’s probably not the largest lobster ever in Sweden, but it is quite huge to be pulled up in that area,” he told daily Expressen.

Despite Sofia going all-out for her New Year’s dinner the family were disappointed to find that they were unable to eat the lobster on the day, lacking utensils strong enough to crack the crustacean’s shell.

However, after going at it with a saw on New Year’s Day, the family could finally feast on the luscious lobster meat inside.

“It was amazing, absolutely wonderful. It was enough to feed six people, and after we had all completely stuffed ourselves, there were still left-overs. Almost half of it actually, which I gave away to my boyfriend’s mum,” Sandgren told The Local.