Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Eating on Trains

293 replies

likepebblesonabeach · 07/06/2024 14:42

I travel on the train daily to work, 30 mins each way. I've just came back from a 3 hour train journey and was shocked that a family of 4 got on with fish and chips. The whole carriage was stinking of fish and chips and the majority of passengers were on the train the whole journey so had to put up with this for 3 hours.
AIBU that if you travel on public transport you should be aware of those around you?

OP posts:
likepebblesonabeach · 07/06/2024 17:51

Can all of the people saying they sell food on trains tell me what rail company sell fried fish and chips on board please.

OP posts:
bostonchamps · 07/06/2024 17:49

tobee · 07/06/2024 17:35

Smelly food on trains is smelly. But it rarely kills you.

Not so very long ago I flew a 12 hour flight and had to sit in the smoker's area. Smelly food isn't the worst.

Food has been eaten on trains since they were invented and sold by the train companies. Hot and cold.

Are you from the 1980s?

Spirallingdownwards · 07/06/2024 17:48

KimberleyClark · 07/06/2024 15:16

I've never seen a McDonalds airside at an airport, their meal must have been cold by the time they ate it?

You can't have travelled much

Willyoujustbequiet · 07/06/2024 17:47

It's perfectly normal.. Why else do you think trains have restaurant cars/buffet or trolley service?

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:46

Bet you're one of those people who also wants to ban eating in cinemas luckily it will never happen so moan all you want 🤣

Ooh aren't you edgy with your sideways laughing emoji. Not to mention easily amused.

From the above comment I'm assuming you're the popcorn-crunching sweet-rustling drink-slurping loud-talking person in the audience. After all, you've paid for your ticket and that entitles you to do exactly as you please, innit?

LlynTegid · 07/06/2024 17:46

The behaviour and lack of consideration for others on public transport is one of the larger barriers to getting more people to travel this way. Yes the majority of people are reasonable, but not all.

Westfacing · 07/06/2024 17:40

Nothing wrong with having a bite to eat on the train but fish curry, a whole pizza, fish & chips? It impinges on other people because of the lingering smell.

There are some basic standards of behaviour in public that used to be observed but now anything goes from smelly food, phone on loudspeaker, feet on seats, dogs on seats, bikes on pavements.

But thankfully the majority of people are considerate and we're still mainly a civilised bunch!

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 07/06/2024 17:40

Exactly. Anything in theory you can buy at the station you either eat it there, on the train or take it home with you.

spriots · 07/06/2024 17:40

PuttingDownRoots · 07/06/2024 17:35

I agree that smelly food is bad manners... but where do you draw the line? Everyone finds different food smells offensive. Bacon sandwiches have been mentioned... but you can actually buy those on some trains. Or eating a sandwich on the tube... but people do that when getting g from A to B as that is their lunch sit down.. a tube journey can be 30 mins!. Even coffee stinks. Or eggs... not allowing someone in a car after eating an egg.. many people wouldn't notice the smell. Others obviously do.

I agree

I find the smell of tuna just absolutely awful

But I honestly didn't realise that people found the smell of egg offensive - I can't smell it at all!

I have a colleague who hates the smell of banana

I think it's just not that hard and fast a thing

SunriseSunsets · 07/06/2024 17:38

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:36

And they sell food on trains so it's not selfish or inconsiderate to eat on a train ffs if you want to have a private service without other people around eating or talking 🙄 then pay for a private taxi!

Just because something's allowed doesn't necessarily mean it isn't rude or inconsiderate. FFS.

Bet you're one of those people who also wants to ban eating in cinemas luckily it will never happen so moan all you want 🤣

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 07/06/2024 17:37

Mnetcurious · 07/06/2024 15:15

I regularly commute by train, yanbu. Hot food should not be allowed, it’s inconsiderate. Mind you I have come across people eating cheese and onion crisps on the train at 8am and the smell from that was pretty grim too 🤢

So what do you do if you buy eg a sausage roll or bacon roll in the buffet car and eat it on the train? Or if you get similar at Pret/Greggs and eat it on the train? I’ve done this and others do this.

MinervaMcGonagallsCat · 07/06/2024 17:37

Sandwiches ✅

Hot smelly food - totally anti-social

tobee · 07/06/2024 17:37

Also "accepted standard" what does that mean in practical terms? And who gets to set the standard?

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:36

And they sell food on trains so it's not selfish or inconsiderate to eat on a train ffs if you want to have a private service without other people around eating or talking 🙄 then pay for a private taxi!

Just because something's allowed doesn't necessarily mean it isn't rude or inconsiderate. FFS.

tobee · 07/06/2024 17:35

Smelly food on trains is smelly. But it rarely kills you.

Not so very long ago I flew a 12 hour flight and had to sit in the smoker's area. Smelly food isn't the worst.

Food has been eaten on trains since they were invented and sold by the train companies. Hot and cold.

PuttingDownRoots · 07/06/2024 17:35

I agree that smelly food is bad manners... but where do you draw the line? Everyone finds different food smells offensive. Bacon sandwiches have been mentioned... but you can actually buy those on some trains. Or eating a sandwich on the tube... but people do that when getting g from A to B as that is their lunch sit down.. a tube journey can be 30 mins!. Even coffee stinks. Or eggs... not allowing someone in a car after eating an egg.. many people wouldn't notice the smell. Others obviously do.

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:34

Daffodildilys · 07/06/2024 15:40

Train and plane, 2 different types of the same thing - transport.
Why is it acceptable to eat hot food on one but not the other?
YABU.

Personally I'm not a fan of it on planes either, that sort of bulk-cooked school/hospital dinner smell makes me heave sometimes. And puts me off wanting to eat the food.

SunriseSunsets · 07/06/2024 17:33

BigPandaTinyDragon · 07/06/2024 17:27

@SunriseSunsets aren’t you a charmer, why should she pay for a taxi over that distance because people are selfish and inconsiderate.

I’m sick of idiots who think they have the right to impact other people’s lives with their noise/smells/behaviour. I’m not some nutter who expects total silence etc (someone will be along to say that MN is full of them) but there used to be accepted standards of how you behaved in public and they seem to have gone right out of the window lately.

And they sell food on trains so it's not selfish or inconsiderate to eat on a train ffs if you want to have a private service without other people around eating or talking 🙄 then pay for a private taxi!

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:31

Mcvitieschoccybiscuit · 07/06/2024 15:43

Only reason it’d upset me is that I would be really jealous. The last train I got on (last week) someone changed their babies nappy on the seat at the side of me (aisle). Give me fish and chips soaked in salt and vinegar any day.

Envy

That has to be the pinnacle of entitled behaviour, surely.

Westfacing · 07/06/2024 17:29

Amsx · 07/06/2024 14:55

Some absolute wrong un ate 3 boiled eggs on a train I was on recently. Pulled them out of a bag he had in his pocket, peeled them and ate them.

Was disgusting. The bloke opposite called him a barbarian.

The bloke opposite called him a barbarian.

Grin
AfterDinnerIDrinkASoda · 07/06/2024 17:29

Last time I was on a train the woman next to me ate a huge fish curry 🥴🤢 I put a polo in a tissue and sniffed it like a nosegay! Not content with an assault on the nostrils she watched a film on her iPad at full volume.

EverythingYouDoIsaBalloon · 07/06/2024 17:28

PeloMom · 07/06/2024 17:17

YABU. Especially since kids are involved and a 3 hr journey.

If kids really can't go 3 hours without eating smelly food, then their parents have been modelling some pretty crappy eating norms.

Motnight · 07/06/2024 17:28

Amsx · 07/06/2024 14:55

Some absolute wrong un ate 3 boiled eggs on a train I was on recently. Pulled them out of a bag he had in his pocket, peeled them and ate them.

Was disgusting. The bloke opposite called him a barbarian.

I love this!

Trainday · 07/06/2024 17:27

They sell hot food on trains, so I don't really see how it can be considered bad etiquette, although I wouldn't take fish and chips, I would a burger or a bacon roll

BigPandaTinyDragon · 07/06/2024 17:27

@SunriseSunsets aren’t you a charmer, why should she pay for a taxi over that distance because people are selfish and inconsiderate.

I’m sick of idiots who think they have the right to impact other people’s lives with their noise/smells/behaviour. I’m not some nutter who expects total silence etc (someone will be along to say that MN is full of them) but there used to be accepted standards of how you behaved in public and they seem to have gone right out of the window lately.