We partnered with Humans of Ōtautahi to profile several local men on what being "Manly As" meant to them. Meet Sam:
It would be a bit of a dream to buy a little plot of land and turn it into a fully functioning edible forest. To be somewhat off the grid. Respect for the environment is a big influence, I try and bring that into my job as a chef wherever possible. For example: with suppliers, trying to stop things coming in plastic, and trying to use as much cardboard for packaging rather than plastic. Its quite hard, we go through a lot of gladwrap and stuff without a good enough alternative, and that kinda hurts. We do our bit and we reuse and recycle as much as possible. We also do a fair bit of foraging as well, more in the summer time not so much in the winter, pretty passionate about foraging as well.
My partner runs a thrift shop called Fable, and one of our passions as a couple is to go op-shopping finding cool threads. I mainly collect vintage Adidas, so I have a big collection of track suits and shoes at home. It’s all to do with what I was exposed to growing up; I’m a massive hip hop and dance music fan so pretty keen on all the American streetwear brands. Adidas to me is the coolest brand out. You can wear it anywhere and I always try and wear it wherever I can, work included.
My passions make me who I am, and I don’t really care about what people think of me. I’ve never really been into typical kiwi bloke things. I don’t believe in hunting, I guess i’m more of a softer male. I used to struggle a bit with being accepted until I found my own identity. I just love being me.”