Food writer, broadcaster and cooking-school entrepreneur Bonnie Stern will give the keynote address at Trent University's fourth annual chefs culinary conference Feb. 16.

        Stern will talk about what today's university students want to eat, at 1:30 p.m. in Wenjack Theatre. Her main audience will be 100 chefs from universities, colleges and other institutions in Canada and the United States gathered for a week of workshops on cross-cultural global cuisine Feb. 15-20.

        Stern has operated a cooking school in Toronto since 1973. She has written eight best-selling cookbooks, the most recent of which is More Heartsmart Cooking, in conjunction with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. She is host of the Women's Television Network's show Bonnie Stern Cooks, writes a weekly column for The Toronto Star and is a frequent contributor to Canadian Living magazine. Recently, she has taught at the International Wine and Food Expo in Vermont and at the James Beard House in New York.

        Following her talk on Feb. 16, there will be a public panel discussion entitled Food for Thought: Preparing for the Next Millennium, at 2:45 p.m. in Wenjack Theatre. On the panel will be a college food administrator, food consultant, food industry representative, chefs and students.

        The conference, organized by Trent-Marriott Food Services director Ken Toong, offers institutional chefs a chance to learn and develop new recipes to keep up with diversifying student tastes and eating styles. This year, they will take three days of workshops on American regional and Caribbean cuisine, Mediterranean and vegetarian dishes, and Indian, Korean, Japanese and Thai cookery. On the final day, Feb. 20, they will separate into teams to prepare dishes that will be shown and judged in Champlain College's Great Hall, beginning at 11 a.m.

        Two other keynote speakers are scheduled to speak to the conference on Feb. 16. Tony Wilson, senior vice-president, marketing and purchasing, Sodexho Marriott Services, speaks about global food services, at 9 a.m. And master chef David St. John-Grubb, senior chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and director of corporate food operations for Royal Caribbean International, talks about cross-cultural global cuisine and service, at 10:45 a.m. St. John-Grubb has instructed and led the final judging at the previous Trent conferences.