Lunch waves of little ones at Branford's Mary T. Murphy Elementary School were met with dazzling smells and delicious sights in the school cafeteria today. At a "Chefs2Table" station set up among the cafeteria's knee-high lunch tables, chef Julio Montes was whipping up batches of "no-sotto" in a giant sauté pan; by blending chopped local veggies and serving them up, seasoned and sizzling, without the creamy rice in traditional risotto.

As Chartwell's Director of Dining Services and Branford Public Schools (BPS) Executive Chef, Montes has embraced Connecticut's annual"Farm to Chef" week by serving up samplings of fresh, healthy local foods prepared in delicious recipes. He started the concept up a few Septembers ago, by adding some savory surprises to the Branford High School (BHS) food service line. 

This year, Chartwells and BPS expanded the program to also include samplings of servings at Murphy School, said Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez.

"When we start to introduce healthy foods at a young age, they see they have more choices; and the choices that they have can be very healthy," said Hernandez. "I consider Chartwells a leader in that, and also our district. School lunches look very different today than they did years ago."

Chartwells school menus use locally and regionally grown fresh produce, together with products such as whole grain breads from area bakeries, year 'round. But Connecticut's Farm to Chef week really gives the company a chance to drive home a delicious point, said Solange Morrissette, Chartwells District Manager.

"It's a week-long celebration in Connecticut, to focus on bringing local products into restaurants and schools," said Morrissette. "That's something we do a on a very regular basis, but we wanted to join in the with the statewide activities to take advantage of it, and let the kids know what we're doing, and that we're buying local."

Northford's Cecarelli Farm products are among those Chartwells purchases for districts it serves around the state. The farm's vegetables were on display today at Murphy, where two tables bursting with colorful whole foods helped illustrate the types of seasonal local produce served up by Chartwells. Chartwells partners with FreshPoint food marketers to purchase produce on a large scale. Through FreshPoint, Cecarelli Farm can offer supplies of sweet corn, squash, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce to local school kids.

Just as Montes hoped, Murphy's K-4 kids snapped up his "no-sotto" samples today, together with Chefs2Table offerings on the lunch line including a fresh peach and cranberry salad, fresh kale green salad with chick peas and carrots, and a bean salad with fresh tomatoes.

While Montes said the approach at Murphy was to "showcase" offerings as samples, BHS students were served up several Chefs2Table options as part of their lunch offerings on Sept. 22.

"The menu at the high school was different, because we emphasized local foods at the (food service) line, while (Murphy) was more to showcase the local foods," said Montes. "So at the high school, we had chicken kabobs, pork kabobs and vegetable kabobs; we had rice pilaf, and a tzatziki sauce made with local cucumbers."

Montes added other fresh touches, such as peach salsa at the Latin food station, to bring in other local produce twists at BHS on Sept. 22.

"The line for the kabobs was definitely the longest line, all day," said Morrisette. "It's just fresh, local, healthy food, and that's what we're all about."