Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver doesn’t need to bring his “food revolution” to the Cape Elizabeth schools. That’s because the fight against unhealthy school lunches has already been won in town.

A variety of changes have been made in the school lunch program through the past two years. Now, foods like french fries and sodas have been eliminated and meals are made primarily from scratch using fresh ingredients, some of them from local farms.

Also, efforts such as a Chef of the Month program – in which chefs from area restaurants or food businesses take turns coming to Cape Elizabeth High School to prepare a healthy meal — are convincing more and more students that wholesome food is something to savor rather than spurn, according to school officials and students.

Peter Esposito, the schools’ new nutrition director, who began overseeing the school lunch program in September, said that if Oliver came to Cape Elizabeth, he would see meals served in kindergarten through high school that are the way school lunch should be.

Oliver, a celebrity chef from England who has campaigned against the use of processed food in British school lunches, has taken his fight to the United States.

In “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” a reality show that premiered on ABC last month, the chef has focused his attention on Huntington, W. Va., which statistics show is one of the country’s unhealthiest cities.

In the initial episodes of the show, Oliver has been shown waging an uphill battle to convince school nutrition staff and students to give up the chicken nuggets and pizza the children love for healthier alternatives such as pasta with a homemade sauce and salad.

At Cape Elizabeth High School last week, there was no sign of a struggle as students eagerly dug into just such a meal.

The lunch was prepared for them by the Terra Cotta Pasta Co., a retail and take-out food business on Cottage Road in South Portland. Terra Cotta was chosen to be guest chef for April through the high school’s Chef of the Month program. Sponsored by the Cape Elizabeth High School Wellness Committee, the program is now in its second year.

The program has been funded by grants from the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation, Let’s Go!, a community-based initiative that promotes healthy lifestyle choices, and the Cape Elizabeth High School Parents Association, said Elaine Brassard, a teacher and wellness coordinator for the high school.

Total grants to fund the program, as well as to redesign the high school cafeteria, adding such amenities as new salad and deli bars, exceed $20,000, she said.

However, she said, now the Chef of the Month program plans to generate its own revenues from the fees charged for the meals. Students last week paid $2.75 for their meal and the price was $4 for faculty and other adults.

Greater Portland participants in the Chef of the Month program have ranged from Whole Foods, Back Bay Grill, Flatbread Company, Maine lobster providers and the Sea Glass Restaurant at Inn by the Sea, according to Benjamin Berman, a Cape Elizabeth High School junior and president of the school’s Wellness Committee.

The program benefits the businesses, which get a stipend to cover food supplies, by providing them with greater publicity and community connections, Berman said. The program also builds community, he said, because Cape Elizabeth senior citizens and other community members are invited to join in and dine with students.

Kevin Cambridge, owner of Terra Cotta Pasta, said this is the second year his business has participated. In addition to attracting some new customers, he also sees cooking at the school as a chance to educate youngsters about wholesome nutrition by introducing them “to good foods at an early age.”

The menu that Cambridge and his general manager, Eric Chaisson, and the school’s cafeteria staff dished up on April 8 included homemade penne pasta and a choice of three homemade sauces. There was fresh tomato marinara made with plum tomatoes from the town of Madison; a roasted garlic Alfredo sauce; and a fresh basil pesto with roasted sunflower seeds.

Students could top their pasta with homemade meatballs, either turkey or beef. A vegetarian entre?e consisted of chopped ripe tomatoes and baby spinach served over pasta with fresh-grated parmesan and romano cheeses.

Students gave the food rave reviews. Among them was sophomore Bella Robinson, 15.

“It was amazing,” she said of the pasta with Alfredo sauce.

Ryan Ayers, a 17-year-old junior, also enjoyed the same dish. He said that the day that the Chef of the Month comes to cook is “the one day of the month everybody looks forward to.”

But many of the students said they also enjoy the daily offerings made by cafeteria staff.

“Our cafeteria staff is really good,” Berman said.

For example, the hearty, rustic-looking loaves of bread that students were dipping in olive oil to enjoy with the pasta meal was made by the middle school’s baker, said Esposito, who formerly was the manager of the central kitchen for the South Portland schools before being hired last summer by Cape Elizabeth. Cafeteria staff also made the homemade cannolis students ate for dessert.

The school’s large salad bar also was heaped with fresh leafy greens students ate alongside their pasta.

Lee Ann Layton, the high school cafeteria manager, said it’s actually easier for the kitchen staff to prepare meals from scratch that appeal to students rather than try to figure out how to vary processed foods in an interesting way.

The offerings in the cafeteria today are very different from what they were prior to the changes of the last two years, according to students.

Jack McDonald, 16, a junior, said that when he was a freshman, typical cafeteria offering were fries, burgers and pre-made sandwiches.

Now, he said, he enjoys the opportunity students have to make their own sandwiches and wraps, with a choice of meats and garnishes that range from tomatoes and lettuce to olives. He said he tends to add more vegetables to his sandwiches now.

“It’s definitely better quality than the stuff we had freshman year,” McDonald said.

Oliver, in his quest to get the Huntington students to eat healthy school lunches, has been appalled that the school there was serving pizza for breakfast and lunch.

Pizza is clearly a favorite at Cape Elizabeth High School, as well. Several students said their favorite Chef of the Month meal was the pizza prepared by the Flatbread Company in Portland.

Esposito said he still serves pizza, but “we make it a better product for them to eat.”

For example, he said, he uses whole-wheat dough, low-fat cheese and tops the pizza with vegetables.

Not all students have embraced the healthy changes, however. Tom Schrank, 18, said he prefers the pizza he buys at a nearby convenience store, which he and other seniors can frequent because they’re allowed to go off campus for lunch. Schrank said he doesn’t like the taste of the school pizza’s crust, “maybe because it has more wheat in the dough.”

And the decision to eliminate french fries is unpopular with some students, according to Leandre Some, 16, a junior. While he personally doesn’t eat fries, he said, “I don’t think the other students feel too good about (french fries not being served).”

Esposito, who said he was converted to healthy eating by his wife’s emphasis on whole grains and vegetables at home, said he occasionally serves baked french fries but the fried ones are out.

“We have a fryolator that I want to sell,” said Esposito, standing near a soda-free cooler filled with bottles of low-fat milk, water, fruit juice and other healthy drinks.

A rack of baskets full of low-fat snacks, such as popcorn, baked potato chips and even a new popped potato chip product was behind him.

“It’s the wave of the future,” Esposito said of the wholesome choices.

He said that the numbers show that the new lunch program in the Cape Elizabeth schools is working.

To date this year, he said, the schools have served about 6,000 more meals than last year and, after losing money last year, the self-supporting lunch program is now in the black. The school district of district of roughly 1,700 students dishes up 11,000 meals per month.

In addition to numbers, Esposito said, feedback from parents and student tells him the program is working.

He related an anecdote that his nutrition staff heard from the family of a second-grade student. The child was resisting going out to dinner at an upscale area restaurant. When asked why, the child said: “Because it’s not going to be as good as the cafeteria.”

Cape Elizabeth freshman Zach Hindall gets dished lunch by Kevin Cambridge, founder of Terra Cotta, on Friday as part of the school’s Chef of the Month program. (Staff photo by Brandon McKenney) Priscilla Schwartz, left, Dick Banks and Marilyn Sherrard eat lunch at Cape Elizabeth High School last week. Cape Elizabeth senior citizens are invited to the school each month to participate in the school’s Chef of the Month program, in which area chefs cook a tasty, wholesome meal for students and also local seniors who want to dine with the younger generation.