Travels with Chambers and Chambers
Friday, November 30th, 2007
The 40 kilos of rice made customs officials hesitate. So did the boxed Japanese milk and the bags of dried green herbs.
But they said “absolutely not” to the Korean beef jerky.
Not smugglers specializing in food but research scientists, Drs. Edgar and Delores Chambers haul products from all over the world back to Justin Hall to test.
“The jerky was confiscated because we couldn’t prove it was safe, so that was one research project down the tubes,” Edgar Chambers said. “But that was the only confiscation and we have brought back a lot of samples.”
Chambers and Chambers direct the internationally-recognized Sensory Analysis Center in the Human Nutrition department at Kansas State.
“Our mission is three-fold: expand scholarship in the area of sensory analysis and conduct projects for industry, which both enhance the third goal of educating and training students for industrial positions,” he explained. “Many of our projects involve travel.”
Chambers and Chambers keep their suitcases packed.
On the road…again
Edgar Chambers worked on 60 different projects last year.
He estimates he spends at least 35 percent of his time traveling worldwide, an exhausting schedule especially considering that spouse Delores Chambers often goes with him.
That means friends and family keep the home fires burning for 7th-grade son Edgar V. Sometimes, Edgar V. goes along.
Chambers and Chambers traveled in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, Germany, and Italy recently. They met with clients, recruited business, attended conferences and worked on building relationships among scientists and businesses
In China, the two presented a workshop on consumer research. “Companies – most of them multi-nationals – were there to get answers to the question: What do consumers like about my product? Researchers were there to learn to provide the answers,” Chambers added.
Testing gelato
“Product” has a very broad meaning, he explained. A product could be an Italian gelato (the center tested 45 in Italy) or the directions on a package. Clients range from producers of food to cosmetics, paper products to flavors.
The K-State team seldom needs translators since most business worldwide is conducted in English. But not always. Recently a consumer quality session in Justin Hall was conducted in Chinese. “Among our graduate students and staff, we have Chinese, Korean, Thai, Spanish, French, and English well covered,” Chambers said.
For written materials, Chambers has developed a specific model: develop information in English, have it translated, then have the translation translated back into English by another translator.
Most often, they use local colleagues or graduate students.
Advice for travelers
“The reality is that traveling in coach class is not fun,” Chambers said.
His advice: steel yourself and do in-flight exercises.
Most of all, he advised, experience the culture. Learn about the country. Learn at least to say “Hello” and “Thank you” in the local language.
Sample the local cuisine. For Dr. and Dr. Chambers, that has ranged from duck tongue and jellyfish to exquisite European chocolates.
“Every place has wonderful food,” Chambers said. “You just have to let yourself try it. And you can get diet Coke or “Coke Light” everywhere.
“We are so lucky.”
Edgar Chambers believes in the importance of international experience for students. He and Delores Chambers led a study tour to Thailand last year and plan to lead a 2-week study tour – including food, culture and cooking – to South Korea this spring. He will announce details later.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 and is filed under Dean's Blog.