Do people really consider it unreasonable to eat on the train?

[MyNewBearTotoro]

Reading another thread in which a poster mentioned eating on the train and I was really surprised by the responses calling her unreasonable/ antisocial for bringing food onto the train and the vitriol she was facing for this alone.

Do people really consider it unreasonable to eat on the train or is this just one of those 'only on Mumsnet' things?

I know it's not pleasant to be stuck next to someone eating smelly food, but equally lots of things are unpleasant on trains - being crammed in close to a stranger, oversized luggage, crying babies, other people's conversations, air-conditioning to high/low etc - but just because some people may find it unpleasant does that automatically make it unreasonable or anti-social?

In an ideal world people would not bring smelly food onto the train, but in an ideal world neither would people bring on crying babies/ noisy children etc but we are human and we need to eat, especially as many people will be making journeys over several hours long. Choices of food are usually limited by either what is available on board the train or what is available from the shops on/ around the station and sometimes hot or fast food is the only option available.

Obviously hot food is permitted on trains, my local train company has buffet carriages which sell hot food (including bacon rolls) and sandwiches (including tuna fish or egg mayo) for people to buy. So I'm not questioning whether it's allowed but I guess I'm curious as to whether people genuinely think it shouldn't be. And, considering it is allowed, are people who do eat on trains genuinely considered anti-social or unreasonable by some?

Personally I don't care, so long as the food is eaten quickly and they take the rubbish with them instead of throwing it on the floor.

Being trapped on the train with really strong smelling food for a long time is unpleasant, I tend to open the window if someone's eaten pungent smelling food.

Nail clipping is something I definitely think is unreasonable. Hard to see how anyone could think otherwise. Same with eyebrow plucking, shaving or anything else which leaves stray hairs etc - if it must be done then at least go to the toilet and do it over the sink where any detritus can be washed away.

I did once sit opposite a woman and her young (around 3/4) son. She was cleaning under his nails using her own long fingernails and just flicking whatever was under there onto the floor. She then started using her teeth to bite shorter a couple of his nails.

I must admit I was just sat staring at the pair of them although think I was actually most amazed that her son allowed her to do this without complaining or pulling away once - trying to cut my DD's nails is a nightmare at home let alone on the train - but that's the only time I've ever seen anything like that.

Not too bothered about people eating on the train unless its the disgusting smelling noodle soups from Wasabi. Those make me want to heave even when I'm feeling well.

I'm not overly keen on those applying makeup either as sometimes the smell of it can give me a headache. Anyone spraying perfume should be shot at dawn frankly (yes I have had some of those on the 7.37 to Liverpool Street).

Our trip home from the city started at 6pm with us getting home about 10pm. Last stop before getting on the train was M&S for nibbles and a bottle of wine.

I don't mind people eating. I did mind the young lady who decided to give herself a manicure and stank out the carriage with the smell of remover and polish.

Goodness me, I always have a nice baguette on the train when I go on long journeys. Have any of you travelled on a train in India? Never mind eating, some people actually cook on the trains

Patrician - that is it- the Wasabi noodles! They are the thing that really smells.

Toe nail clipping??? Brilliant.

Make up I think is fine. i don't think I have any makeup that smells. Nail varish would probably be a bad idea for that reason.

I prefer not to be surrounded by people drinking booze and getting loud on the train. But it's not the drinking per se, it's really the having too much fun when probably others are feeling tired and miserable! So that may be U of me

Also, in first class they serve food, so I guess the companies don't think it is U to eat and drink on the train.

It's not very lady-like is it? I wouldn't do it, but then I'm of "old school" and there's just certain things I don't do in public.

In a bygone era lots of trains had a buffet car. Eating on a train is not a new thing.

I bet you've farted in public before though, Cherriblossom. Even if you didn't own up.

Have any of you travelled on a train in India? Never mind eating, some people actually cook on the trains

I loved the trains in India - maybe having used a lot of public transport in Asia I am less inclined to be bothered by such things as people eating on journeys back in the UK. It is an expected part of rail travel there and on longer journeys chefs will come around with a menu and take your lunchtime curry order. I once woke up on a sleeper train in India to find two small toddlers had been placed on my bunk and were happily sleeping next to me whilst there parents and siblings were squashed into the adjacent bunk.

Completely different rules regarding being considerate of others!

I think people who think it's rude and antisocial to eat on trains should take a long hard look at themselves - and ask themselves if it's not them who are being rude and antisocial by expecting hungry passengers not to eat so as to save their precious noses from having to smell...food. It's not a dog poo, it's a sandwich. Get over yourselves.

I have a long commute from work - tomorrow I'll work a 12 hour shift then catch a 1.5 hr train at 7pm. I could wait till I get home at 9pm to eat, but I find that tends to mess with my blood sugar levels, so I buy a healthy meal in the station and enjoy it on my way home. Anyone who doesn't like it can come and have a chat with me about the drunken middle-aged football fans that I have to put up with on the train. Or the cider-drinking girls swearing their heads off in front of DS. I once called the police because a girl pulled down her pants and pissed on the floor next to me, so it went all over my shoes. They did nothing about it.

So yeah, I'll have my salad, rice bowl, whatever, and you can wind your princess noses in.

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Absolutely op, I woke up on a sleeper train to a family lighting a fire in a big pot and cooking their breakfast

Have you checked to see if you appear on this Facebook page StompyMum? "Women who eat on tubes"

Long train journeys = ok

Short train journeys / commuter trains / tubes = not ok

I think it's gross to sit there scoffing at food, making the carriage stink and having to make everyone else listen to you masticate. Why can't people just wait until they get home?

Someone on my train home eats crisps every night and the noise of the packet combined with her chomping makes me heave. So I move if I see her now. Gross.

I think there's more people on MN prepared to admit to having it off in a carpark than countenance eating on a train.

I've had it off in a car park

Goodness , better not get on my train home then , eating is practically compulsory , you get off looks if you are not eating . Station is full of takeaway food , the only thing I really don't like are curry because of the smell and MacDonolds because there always seem to be a lot of packaging which is then left .

Proud of you, Owllady.

I usually get a pasty or pie to eat on the train, so does everyone else in our area.
A train without a pie, are you mad?

See, you people who hate seeing/smelling other people eat - how do you get on in a cafe? Does that gross you out? Or if you visit a friend and she's in the middle of her lunch, do you have to run and open a window cos you can't bear the smell of soup? Maybe you need to travel in a private car where you don't have to see/smell other people

I have eaten on a train and got it off in a car park, obviously not at the same time. And yes, hot food - pies, pasties, paninis, chips covered in curry sauce or salt n vinegar. I have not put on makeup other than lippy, but wouldn't rule it out. I wear perfume, too.

I have a long train journey next month. We are going in armed, my mate and I! Food, loads of food to soak up all the voddy as we'll be tanked upon arrival.

A train and a cafe are quite clearly not the same thing

If I want a McDonald's, I'd go in to the cafe and expect to smell it. If I'm on my train on the way home I expect it to smell of sweat, unwashed children, cigarettes, bad breath, dirty heating and train smog! Not McDonald's!