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?

So I should have to not use it because others have no manners?

I take it loud music, swearing, feet on seats is also fine then?!

Whether you like the smell or not if its strong then it's inappropriate

Whether the smell is thought strong is a matter of opinion.

I don't think it is. Fish has a strong smell, which I like. Eggs have a strong smell which I think is vile. Me liking one doesn't mean I suddenly can't smell it

Trains have rules, signs up re loud music and feet on seats and the conductor will tell you to take feet off seats ime. But the trains themselves sell food, they have their trollies and buffet carriages and sell all sorts including some smelly stuff like tuna or egg sandwiches etc so clearly the train companies don't see it as a problem.

Coffee smells the smell of coffee makes me feel ill but I don't expect others not to drink it.

I am trying to imagine buying a train ticket and having to wade through a huge list of permitted or banned foods. Also thinking of the outcry as people disagree with which are permitted or banned. Who is going to police it? Will the guard march through with a black bag confiscating tuna samdwiches? Would you get around it if you ate early before the authorities checked?

Mints smell

Seriously, we all need to be a bit less precious I think. Live and let live.

I find MN very strange when it turns up people who must have very stressful lives if they get so upset about perfectly normal things like eating a tuna and cucumber sandwich, or an egg and cress sandwich, in public.

I am trying hard to think of an occasion when people eating has upset me- other than popcorn is confined spaces I can't think of any. (And on a scale of 1-10 that comes in pretty low).

People get upset about so much these days. Maybe we should all go back to handwashing sheets or something so we're too tired to care.

If you don't like the public don't go on public transport.

Well said!!

I should just chill out, live and let
. People eat on public transport, people are expected to eat on public transport, public transport providers make money from supplying food. If you don't like it then you have 2 choices

1. Don't travel on public transport.
2. Travel on public transport and accept that you can't control it to your personal wishes.

The problem with saying no 'smelly' food is, as others have pointed out, most foods smell to a degree. If you dislike a food it will almost certainly smell unpleasant to you even if others don't mind the smell.

Bacon. Eggs. Coffee. Bananas. Oranges. Tuna. Cheese. Tomatoes. Crisps. Mints. Cider. Burgers. Garlic. Chocolate. Curry. Sausage rolls. Apples. Onions. Nuts. Popcorn. Milk. Chips. Peanut butter. Cola. Chutneys/ pickle. Pasties. Samosas. Noodles.

I'm struggling to think of many foods that don't smell. Even foods that aren't usually strong smelling will whiff if they've been sweating in a sandwich bag/ Tupperware box for half a train journey, if they're bought hot or if the person eating is right next to you.

I agree. All these people with such sensitive noses should avoid mixing with the public. I honestly don't get it. I've never ever met anyone in my everyday life who has complained about smelling a crisp or a sandwich on a train.

I just have bigger and better things to think about. It goes under my radar totally and we inhabit this planet together, jostling alongside each other and we have to accept other people's idiosynchrasies, it really is not important in the rich tapestry of life. It just seems there are some posters who go looking for problems, maybe they are glass half empty people or something. I dunno, it's very puzzling, and people should just be more accepting of each other. I wouldn't care if someone ate a full indian banquet next to me as long as I could read my book in peace!

Agree Merry handwash sheets and get on hands and knees to scrub the front step, we'd be exhausted!

Mehitabel, the only thing that annoys me in the eating stakes is the rustling of sweet papers in the tense bit of a film at the cinema!

I puked on a train once I'd been sitting in a packed seat in a packed carriage with packed corridors and packed between the carriages bits. No one moved I asked them to, so I puked into the lunch box I'd previously been eating out of, while sitting in my seat. Double whammy of gross inconsiderateness on my part.

I offended people with my eating/puking and they offended me with their refusal to move for a clearly ill-feeling fellow passenger. Hey, everyone was a winner loser.

That was an afternoon to remember...

I did that on a packed bus, Hester, into a carrier bag I had in my pocket. I was pregnant and it was so hot in there and people just reeked.

Mortification!

I got off the bus.

Alas I had no option! This was a 300 mile journey :o

I did it into the empty (I thought) front pocket of my backpack. Wasn't until I got to my station that I remembered my bike lights were still in there - they worked, but I still got a new set.

Wasn't ill though - just pissed!

Maybe people can't cope with the lack of control - and it is hope over experience that makes them think it is possible.
It is rather like 'my child, my rules' -which hasn't a hope of being true unless you stay at home without visitors!
The truth is that you can't control your environment out of your own home. People will say what they like and do what they like and unless it is against the law you can accept or try and politely change it (accepting it might not work) or remove yourself.
I would love to know where all these precious people are outside of MN , or perhaps the world is silently seething about the rudeness of eating an egg sandwich in public! I think that I am more likely to get bewilderment if I asked if my sandwich was offensive - they would think I was a bit odd!

I never had a problem with it either, until I got pregnant and suffered severe sickness. Have fond memories of being on a bus behind a woman eating cold baked beans! I ended up throwing up in my bag while still on the bus and I had to get off early because I was so embarrassed!

If I was dictator I would ban all eating in cinemas- since I am not I just have to accept the sweet paper rustlers -or wait for the DVD.

Yes, maybe it is control. Interesting thought Mehitabel. As you say, we can't control what the great british public do, what they say or how they act. That is why the little things like someone scoffing a bag of crisps on a train is so far from my consciousness, it really is.

Luckily no one I know gets worked up about this sort of thing.

It can't be good for your health to get so worked up about unimportant things.

I didn't even have the excuse of being pregnant or pissed. My nephew had breathed some revolting toddler barfing affliction in my general direction.

Hester love the name.