BATH

Chefs from around Midcoast, central and southern Maine will be competing in the fourth annual Spectrum Generations Celebrity Chef Challenge on Wednesday at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.

Proceeds from the fundraiser support Spectrum Generation’s Meals of Wheels program, which brings food to families across the state.

The event will pit four chefs against each other, testing their culinary skills to the benefit of the crowd. The chefs competing consist of Justin Bard from Riverside Farm Markets in Oakland, Nick Krunkkala from Liquid Riot in Portland, Dave Mallari from the trio of Portland restaurants The Sinful Kitchen, Salty’s Sally’s Bar and Grille, and the Pig Kahuna, as well as a “mystery chef” who will be revealed on the night of the benefit.

“We were trying to do a lot of Meals on Wheels outreach (four years ago),” said Lauren Massey, community engagement specialist at Spectrum Generations. “We came up with this sort of Iron Chef idea being incorporated through our meals, offering our consumers more nontraditional meals.”

Spectrum decided to work with various farm-to-table chefs from Maine to add some flair to their meals, and began the Celebrity Chef Challenge as a spearhead for this endeavor.

“When we interviewed the chefs and asked if they get their food from farmers,” Massey said, “all of our chefs are farm-to-table, which is great.”

Chefs work with Spectrum throughout the year to help broaden the Meals on Wheels menu. During the Celebrity Chef Challenge, Spectrum asks the chefs to stick to the guidelines of the Meals on Wheels diet and to hit 10 of the 14 important nutrients.

“We have them working with foods like chicken, Brussels sprouts, squash and beets,” said Massey. “They are allowed to use their own spices and sauces, but it has to be something we could recreate in our Meals on Wheels menu. Something we can put our own spin on.”

Massey points out that this competition is not only great promotion for Meals on Wheels, but for the chefs as well.

“We have a lot of chefs come back to us and say people have tried their restaurants because of Meals on Wheels,” said Massey. “We always want to give them clientele, to bring back money into the farming economy. Everybody wins.”

There will be a few local celebrities appearing at the event, including “Survivor” winner Bob Crowley and Brunswick Chief of Police Richard Rizzo as waiters, and Mac Dickinson of 92 Moose as the emcee.

The Celebrity Chef Challenge is open to the public, and though this year’s event is sold out, Massey said Spectrum plans on moving to a larger venue next year.

“We’re thinking of doing a ‘winners competition’ of past winners next year,” Massey said. “We’re tossing around quite a few ideas.”

To learn more about the challenge, visit spectrumgenerations.org.

The challengers

• THE CHEFS competing consist of Justin Bard from Riverside Farm Markets in Oakland, Nick Krunkkala from Liquid Riot in Portland, Dave Mallari from the trio of Portland restaurants The Sinful Kitchen, Salty’s Sally’s Bar and Grille, and the Pig Kahuna, as well as a “mystery chef” who will be revealed on the night of the benefit.