Introduction The French love to eat. Meals are a time to appreciate good food, socialize, and spend time with family and friends. In France, foods are served in courses starting with an hors d'oeuvre, followed by a main dish, then a green salad, cheese, and dessert. This WebQuest will help you and your assigned group explore various French cuisine. In the process, you will find not only interesting dishes, but also numerous French recipes. The Task After becoming acquainted with French cuisine, you and your assigned group will select dishes to create a menu for your restaurant.

Process

1. First, you'll be assigned to a team of 4 to 5 students.
2. Next, your group will decide what kind of restaurant you would like to have. For example, a cafe, a specialty shop, a gourmet restaurant, a cajun restaurant, etc.
3. Once a decision has been made on the type of restaurant, then your group will select an original name for the establishment.
4. Decide what food items will be served. Create and design a menu for your restaurant. Each dish/item should include a brief description of what it is.
5. Lastly, you will present the finished product to the class. A sample item from the menu should be brought in on the day of the presentation for the class to taste.

Suggestions: Think about all the restaurants you have ever visited. Bring in menus from actual restaurants. Look in the yellow pages for help on restaurant titles. Assign members of your group to research only certain categories of food. (Have someone research main dishes. Someone else can research desserts. Someone else can do salads. Etc.)

Resources

Web Sites:

• Traditional French recipes. A list of basic French recipes.
• Main dishes. Sample menu from La Cuisine de Claudine (in French)
• Entrees. Sample menu from La Cuisine de Claudine lists entrees. No descriptions. (in French)
• Desserts. Sample menu from La Cuisine de Claudine lists desserts. A few pictures. (in French)
• Specialty dishes.
• Wines. The French love their wine. This site lists popular wines from the Provence region.
• Les fromages de France. Lists cheeses from various regions of France.
• French restaurants. Choose restaurants by arrondissements to look at sample menus.
• More French restaurants. Another site to choose restaurants by arrondissements to look at sample menus.
• Even more French restaurants. Guess what? Another site to choose restaurants by arrondissements.
• Hors d'oeuvres, soups, salads, entrees. Sample menu from Le Jardin restaurant.
• Sample menu. Sample menu from Restaurant Nouveau Trattoria.
• Another menu. Sample menu from Café des Beaux-Arts in California. Lists popular French dishes.
• French cuisine. A web page from About.Com. Discusses popular desserts and recipes.
• A Taste of France. A list of wines, entrees, desserts, etc.
• Cajun cuisine. Creole and cajun recipe page.
• Ragin' Cajun. A sample menu from Ragin' Cajun Café
• More cajun cuisine. A Cajun French menu. Lists popular cajun dishes.
• Even more cajun cuisine. Cajun Cooking page is divided into different categories (i.e. recipes, appetizers, history,entrees)

Books:

Textbook: Bienvenue Glencoe-McGraw/Hill, Chapters 5 & 6

various cookbooks (check the library or the bookstore)

Encyclopedia

Evaluation

Your assignment will be evaluated in the following areas:

1. Originality of restaurant title.
2. Generous selection of French cuisine.
3. Creativity and design of menu.
4. Oral Presentation
5. Self/Peer evaluation of cooperative group work.

Conclusion

By the end of this project, students will...

• use the Internet and books for advanced exploration of French cuisine
• work cooperatively with a group
• create and design a French menu
• use communication skills to present project
• have a knowledge of popular French cuisine

Based on a template from The Webquest Page.