How chance encounter with Aubameyang helped chef Kariuki land top job at Arsenal
Kenyan chef Bernice Kariuki has shared her experience in England including how former Gabonese international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang helped her land a job at Arsenal Football Club.
Kenyan chef Bernice Kariuki has shared her experience in England including how former Gabonese international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang helped her land a job at Arsenal Football Club.
Ms Kariuki, who was born in Nairobi, has been working at the popular English Premier League club for the past three years.
The job has handed her an opportunity to cook for some of the biggest football stars in the world including coach Mikel Arteta and players Thomas Partey, Aubameyang, William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus, among others.
“I moved to Sweden when I was 17 and later to the UK to study psychology,” she said in an interview with Chams Media.
“I have always loved cooking and at one point chanced on Aubameyang who was the Arsenal captain at the time.”
The ex-Gabon forward has since moved to Chelsea after a stint at Barcelona.
“So, there was one time we went to a Christmas party and I met Auba and I was like if you have some space I’m passionate about Arsenal and I can come cook for you. And he was like you can be my personal chef, and that is how I got my job (at the club),” she recalls.
Chefs and nutritionists
Arsenal has an average of 25 players in the main squad, 25 in the women’s squad and another 118 players and coaches in the youth set-up.
The club thus needs an army of chefs and nutritionists.
“We are talking about 600 people in that big training ground. So, we have about 90 chefs and (the) first team has 27 chefs. It's not about cooking, it's about healthy cooking. I am a dietician, no putting a lot of oil. You marinate your food and cook. You have to do their (milk)shakes, juices, everything from the scratch,” she added.
The players do not eat the same food, she observes, but mostly prefer fish, salmon and skippers.
“They have their green beans, plantains. We have healthy rice. We try to accommodate everybody but they know what to eat. We just don’t cook anything, we are told what to cook.”
She starts her day at 3am to prepare the players' food.
“They do their run and then have their breakfast; omelette every morning and some avocado chilling time then they do their actual training from 11:00 am so the money they are being paid is worth (it),” she said.
