Macy Lipkin ’18 recently submitted a petition to the Dining Hall for the addition of natural peanut butter to the Skippy Creamy selection currently being offered. According to the student, “natural peanut butter is Skippy’s healthier, more sophisticated older brother.”

Although the petition was created with no intent of eliminating Skippy Creamy, a natural option was requested. Once the petition had been submitted to the Dining Hall, the staff replied that “their current supplier does not offer natural peanut butter and they cannot make it on campus because their equipment is nut-free.”

In response to the petition or simply as a coincidence, the Dining Hall recently added sunflower seed butter made locally in the Dining Hall kitchen. This option is not the classic Skippy, but it does get the job done for the natural tree huggers who are alarmed by the fact that sugar and oil are the second and third ingredients in Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter.

Skippy actually does offer a “natural” option, but the only difference between the classic and natural versions is that there are no artificial preservatives or flavors in the latter. This option still has sugar and oil as its second and third ingredients.

Interestingly enough, simply labelling something “natural” might not alter the well-being of the student body here at Groton School.

So what good would the petition actually have done if the Dining Hall had gotten Skippy Natural?