Within the last couple of weeks, the change from natural peanut butter buckets to pocket-sized packets of peanut butter has caused a commotion amongst avid Stav Hall attendees. The nutty spread has long served as a staple for students’ “caf creations.”
In an interview with The Olaf Messenger, peanut butter lover Paige Hummel ’26 commented on this change.
“[The change] has a big impact on my diet. It goes into a lot of my meals and I can’t use the new peanut butter the same way,” Hummel said.
The most noticeable differences in the new peanut butter are its consistency and portion sizes. What used to be a bucket of smooth, fluid, natural peanut butter is now a collection of small packets of thick, sugary, and processed peanut butter. Students were left to speculate about why this change occurred and if these packets were here to stay.
Bon Appetit Board Manager Rick Parris offered insight from the administrative side of the debate. According to Parris, there have not been any final decisions over whether or not this change is permanent. He said that this change “goes through multiple layers of management,” and the St. Olaf branch has “little control over the decision.”
Parris did confirm that this change is a preventative measure for those with nut allergies.
“The small containers are the only way to guarantee there is no cross-contamination of nuts,” he said.
This concern over protecting those with allergies is addressed by Bon Appetit in their guidebook titled “Food Allergies & Celiac Disease at St. Olaf College.” As a top-nine allergen, these new single-serve peanut butter packets follow a food allergen awareness protocol.
For the time being, it looks like students and peanut butter lovers alike will have to adjust to this change and make do with the peanut butter packets Stav Hall has to offer.
