The Pause is a student run organization on the St. Olaf College campus. It is funded by the Student Government Association and the student workers receive work study, so The Pause does not have to directly pay them. This helps the Pause to fulfill its purpose: provide cheap entertainment and food for the student body. Non students, such as professors, public safety and prospective students, also buy food at The Pause.

A simple glance at The Pause’s menu shows how important dairy is to the St. Olaf student. Well over half of the items have dairy as an important ingredient. They sell pizza, mozzarella sticks, ice cream, quesidillas, milkshakes, pretzels with cheese, nachos and more. In order to avoid dairy one would have to eat candy, a plain bagel, egg roles or cereal. Of course, what is the purpose of the Pause? To learn more I spoke with Brittany Maurer, the purchaser for The Pause.

The Pause was created to give students entertainment, a place to gather, and cheap food. Accordingly, they do not place emphasis on the health benefits or lack of health benefits of the food they sell. The busiest time in The Pause is between 8pm and midnight. Most people eat food at The Pause for snacks, only a few items, such as pizza, are considered meals. This changes how people decide what to buy at The Pause. If it was supposed to be a meal, they may not buy just ice cream. Snacks, in the mind of many Americans and St. Olaf students, are usually not supposed to be healthy. Snacks are meant to taste good and fill you up between meals and at night. Dairy foods fulfill these requirements well.

Dairy products are not advertised more than any other type of food at The Pause, nor do dairy businesses give the Pause more promotional information. Ben and Jerry’s sends a lot of promotional stickers and ‘got milk?’ signs were used when ‘to-go’ milk was being sold in The Pause. Marketing of all foods are done similarly. The staff put up advertisement posters, decides on specials, like the happy-hour special every Friday, and give discounts or deals to draw in customers.

art by K. Ahrens; photos by L. Ahrens with permission from Brittany Maurer

The chart above details the amount of dairy used per week, total cost per week, selling price and vendor for all the dairy products sold at The Pause. Many of the items are not sold individually and the creamers are provided for free. The mozzarella sticks are a new item, so Brittany Maurer did not have weekly information on those. A total of $2,565.11 is spent per week on dairy foods, 46% of which is spent on pizza cheese. The chart speaks for itself, but a few other surprising numbers are the 56 pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and 105 gallons of soft serve ice cream sold every week.

As shown in the chart, The Pause purchases food from Bon Appetit, the same company that runs the cafeteria and the Cage. The other main supplier is Vistar. I contacted them to determine from where those dairy products are coming. The list below contains the information I received. The pizza cheese comes from regional dairy businesses, but even Vistar does not have information readily available on processing locations of many of the other products the Pause purchases. This is evidence of the growing disconnect between consumer and producer.

Northland Cheese items 10705 and 10709: Quesadilla cheese is a Cheddar & Monterey Jack blend, the Pizza cheese is a Mozz, Provolone, Cheddar blend.

Cheddar and Monterey Jack : First District Association 216 West Commercial Street Litchfield, MN 55355

Provolone : Lake Norden Cheese 408 Dakota Street Lake Norden, SD. 57248

Mozzarella Alto Dairy P.O. Box 550 Waupun, WI 54840

General Grocery items:

10397 Kraft Cream Cheese Pkts 61119 Dot Foods

19005 Kemps Milk

19058 Kemps Sour Cream Pkts 38634 McCain

Mozzarella Sticks Anchor Food Products 28436

Gehl Nacho Cheese Sauce Gehls Dairy Germantown, WI 53022

The Pause exemplifies how the majority of St. Olaf students feel about dairy products. It is eaten with gusto for snack and meals, but otherwise given little thought. It might be said that most students do not even realize the emphasis The Pause places on dairy foods, nor the location of any of the producers. A type of food that we eat so much deserves more consideration. I encourage St. Olaf students, as well as the general public, to know what they are eating and be aware of how it affects themselves, others and the environment. Dairy has assumed an significant role in our culture, so we should treat it as such.