HOW WE CHOSE OUR TOPIC:

Our initial topic focused on the Islamic religion, but we soon had to choose another topic. When we were choosing what topics would be a good idea before, Tara had already thought about doing French culture. Cami and Zainab went even further with the idea and thought we should focus on one subject in French culutre - food. This was a good idea because France is really dominant in the culinary world and, of course, people love food.

WHY OTHERES WOULD BE INTERESTED IN OUR SITE?

We believe other people would like our site because everyone loves food. Food is a part of our daily lives. We think this would give those who don't live in France a chance to get a little taste of what it is like. France has many great foods to offer, and we have provided dishes that we think would be especially tasteful to people who have never tried French food. It would be a great way to get families to cook together and get a cultural experience.

CHALLENGES IN MAKING OUR SITE:

There were some pretty big challenges in putting together the pages for our site. First of all, we are not from France. Although we had some general knowledge on specific topics, there was a lot of research to do. Another challenge was having one of our team members, Zainab,switch out of our Webmastering class to an Arabic class. Communication became a little harder, but she was able to provide us with a bulk of information on certain categories of French cuisine. We were previously going to go with Zainab's idea of doing a site on Islam, as we mentioned before, but with her being gone and being the most knowledgeable on the subject, we had to change the topic at the last minute. She has still been a great source of information.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:

Strengths - Our main strength was probably that we really worked well together as a team. We rarely had trouble agreeing on certain things like colors, fonts, and the way a page looked. Everyone was really cooperative and added their own personal touch to the site.

Weaknesses - Our main weaknesses included not having all our team members in the same place at the same time and having so much research to do. It was not really easy finding all of our recipes and it took us almost two or three weeks to do. Finding appropriate pictures was also hard because some of the recipes are not as popular as others.

OUR TEAM MEMBERS:

About Tara

Hi! My name is Tara, I’m 18 years old, and I’m a senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. I love France and everything about its culture, art, architecture, and of course its food. I’ve never been to France yet, but hopefully I will go one day. I am interested in many things as you will soon find out. I am currently a member of the French Club at my school, and I love it a lot! I love music too! I especially like the Backstreet Boys because they rock, and they’re awesome. Nick Carter is so cute! In my spare time, I mostly work. I have a job. It’s pretty cool, but it makes life stressful since I have to juggle between it and school. I like animals, but I don’t have any pets. I like swimming, but I don’t know how to swim. I love tennis, but I’m not really good at it. My favorite tennis player is Roger Federer, but he’s not as cute as Raphael Nadal. I spend a lot of time at home reading, and I love going to my grandmother’s house and jumping on the trampoline in the backyard. I know you may think I’m crazy, but I’m not.

I was able to contribute to our website, mainly because of my love of France and all things French. I did a lot of research on different foods and chefs, and I even used some information that I had already known. I helped work on our layout and color schemes (which took forever to get together!). It was a real group effort working on this site, but I think it gave us a real sense of responsibility and commitment.

About Cami

Konichiwa! My name is Cami. I’m in my senior year at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. I am a Vietnamese-American who has lived in Louisiana all her life. My language fluencies include English and Vietnamese. The greatest aspect of Louisianian culture is Cajun food in my eyes! Cuisines of all sorts amaze me. This passion is what led me to select French Cuisine as a ThinkQuest topic. Like art and music, the taste needs to translation. It is able to transcend any ethnical barriers directly to the consumer. My other interests are composed of languages, music, and film. The voice that I hear through actual sound waves or mental audiation each and every day is Se7en's! I am currently in the Anime and Chinese Clubs at BRMHS.

I contributed to ‘Un Gout de la France’ as a writer and researcher. My responsibilities include the lunch and dinner sections of ‘Un gout de la France’. Upon researching recipes for my team’s webpage, I actually endeavored to create the Croque-Monsieur. It turned out very tasty and was quite easy to accomplish. I hope that the recipes on our website are adequately appealing to tempt our visitors of an undertaking.

About Zainab

I am currently a senior in high school. I have been interested in the French language and culture since I began taking French in middle school. I am pleased to have learned the language well enough to speak and understand French. I enjoy reading and writing, and I am continuously on the look out for new and appealing reads. My favorite genres are mystery and historical fiction. I love helping people and teaching people about my religion, Islam. I am currently the President of the Muslim Student Association.