Arsenal Football Club’s celebrity chef, Bernice Kariuki, is in the country and has predicted the club’s first English top-flight league title after a 22-year wait.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Generation on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kariuki, who is in Kenya for a short vacation, was jubilant that her employers are at the top of the league. She said she has worked with top football clubs in Europe, but Arsenal stands out in terms of professionalism.
“I have worked for our rivals Tottenham Hotspur, I have been at Chelsea and even Real Madrid, but none of those beat Arsenal. This definitely has to be our year. It has to be. We are going to win the league,” Kariuki emphasized.
“It’s a top job that requires a lot of sacrifice. I am always the first one in the kitchen by 3 am from Monday to Saturday, but first I am at the fish market by 2 am. The rest have to find me having already done my preps, and I will be done by 11 pm,” she explained, highlighting her commitment to the job.
Kariuki was quick to advise Kenyan athletes on how to stay fit and last longer in sports, emphasizing that the top-level professionalism of European athletic clubs can also be emulated in Kenya and other African countries.
“Yes, we can do it here. We have fresh food straight from the farms, fish from the lake, rivers, or the ocean. Why do we go for fast food?” Kariuki questioned, adding that an athlete’s longevity is determined by what he or she eats, trains, and commits to the job.
The Kenyan-born celebrity chef also revealed that she is working with Formula One record-winning champion Lewis Hamilton and is also a private chef to her favorite athlete, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, among other movie stars and athletes across Europe.
Kariuki, who was born and raised in Jericho Lumumba Estate in Nairobi’s Eastlands, is now an ambassador championing women’s rights, with her focus being on Thomas Barnardo’s Children’s Home in Nairobi. Her vision, she says, is to see young girls transition into better women than she has been in life.
