“Those who have had someone in their household who is pregnant knows it’s pretty hard to stand between them and what they want,” he chuckles.
Louis knows all too well and says even though the lengthy trip could have been cut a bit shorter, much like his wife’s cravings, he respects the ocean and spent the 12-hour mission diving away from his home bay to ensure he wasn’t putting “too much pressure” on the marine environment.
Documenting his adventure to find the sea delicacy, the content creator shared a 30-second video on his social media accounts where he admitted obtaining the seafood was “a little bit difficult” because it has to not only be fresh, but of decent size, and he has to catch it with his own hands.
Thankfully, it’s something he’s been taught to do since he was a young child, “like most people from where I’m from, we learn to dive as children and dive our whole life”, he says.
And he knows when it comes to taking from the ocean, it’s not so much quantity but quality, “I only need to take 5-10 kina per mission. They are so fat, it is plenty.”
The Pacific Ocean, where he sourced it from, is “very cold” this time of year, sitting near 15C, but it wasn’t tough for the dedicated husband to make his decision to go.
“We should as much as possible look after our pregnant people and make sure that they’re eating fresh, wholesome, nutritious food that you either grew, gathered, hunted or killed yourself as much as possible,” he says.
Vincent Arbuckle, deputy director-general of New Zealand Food Safety, the government body responsible for food safety, said pregnant women needed to be careful when consuming seafood.
“We understand that it may be tempting for pregnant people to continue to eat foods that they have safely consumed in the past, however, the risks of eating raw kaimoana during pregnancy are well documented and evidenced.
“During pregnancy the risk of foodborne illness is increased, which can lead to serious health risks for the mother and their baby. Shellfish can be safely consumed during pregnancy by thoroughly cooking them, and eating while hot.”
Louis also addressed concerns about the risks, saying the kina was fresh.
“The seafood that 99% of the world eats, I wouldn’t feed to my wife while pregnant,” he states. “What you have, which has been taken out of the sea months ago, and then processed, and then put into plastic punnets, and then shipped around the world for you to put, then frozen, and then unfrozen, and given to you to eat. I understand why you wouldn’t feed that to yourself, or just any living human.”
Louise declared he would “go to the ends of the earth for her crazy little cravings” and it went down a treat with his followers — perhaps even more so than Ash satisfying her craving.
“The very definition of ‘if he wanted to he would’,” one person wrote. “I cry every time a man loves his wife loudly,” another added.
“This man truly loved his wife and it’s beautiful,” a third commented.
In the video posted by Louis, Ashleigh appeared stoked to receive the delicacy and can be seen grinning at her husband as he presents the kina, before she digs in and has a couple of bites.
Davis says it isn’t the first time he’s gone on a mission to satisfy his wife’s pregnancy cravings. “Once upon a time when we lived in Wellington and we didn’t have access to fresh seafood, there is in Wellington but it’s not as straightforward as where I live now, there used to be certain chocolate bars at the local dairy late at night or certain flavours of ice cream.”
He says those days are mostly behind them now because their home in the Far North means he’s been able to do the “ultimate craving missions”.
As for any pregnancy craving missions he won’t do, he chuckles, “Probably my closest to it is this very specific restaurant on the North Shore of Auckland that makes Vietnamese spring rolls.
“We’ve had a few dust-ups about where she wants to stop there in peak traffic.”
People can find more information about eating safely in pregnancy here: Food and pregnancy | NZ Government.
See a full list of safe foods in pregnancy here: Safe and healthy eating in pregnancy.
Lillie Rohan is a London-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things reality TV, films and music.
