Joel Yukich, the New Zealand cooking personality who built a devoted online following by bringing wild game from the hunting ground to the dinner table, has died. He was 35.
Based in New Plymouth on New Zealand's North Island, according to the New Zealand Herald, Yukich had amassed more than 116,000 followers on his "Blokes Can Cook Too" Facebook page and 15,000 on Instagram. His content centered on hunting, fishing, diving, and cooking—often preparing meals using wild game he had caught himself.
Keegan, who said he had known Yukich since childhood and helped him launch the page around 2017, described his friend as someone whose charisma filled every space he entered. "Joel was the loudest and brightest light in every room he went into," he wrote. "This page gave him an outlet to connect with other like-minded fans and creators, allowing him to forge lifelong friendships through his love of wild kai."
Hussey, in her post, painted a portrait of a devoted father and partner. "He was an amazing dad to his four boys, an incredible partner, and someone who would do anything for the people he loved," she wrote. "He loved sharing his adventures, his recipes, and bringing people together over good food and good stories."
She described the absence he left behind as "unbearable" and made a promise to the four sons Yukich leaves behind. "I'll make sure your boys always know how deeply they were loved by their dad," she wrote.
He was originally from Tokoroa and traveled the country on hunting and fishing adventures, building what his sister described as "a collection of friends and whanau" along the way.
"Joel has shared his aroha, big laughs and hearty kai with many," the page reads, "and we want to enable his following to contribute to the send off he deserves.”
Keegan closed his tribute on Facebook with a Māori proverb: "Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne"—"A great tōtara tree has fallen in the forest of Tāne.”