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?

doris doesn't matter if it's not bad smelling, it's if it's strong

I can't help it if it makes me throw up can I?

As Expat said - that's your problem, for you to deal with. If you can't survive on Public Transport then use something else.

Don't inflict your idiosyncrasies on the rest of the population.

'Even so I still think it's rude to do something that has the potential to make your fellow passengers feel unwell'

And the public has no idea what could potentially make a fellow passenger 'feel unwell'. I felt very unwell crushed up in that DLR with that man's body against mine. He should have just not existed then. His very existence had the potential to make me feel unwell. Yeah. Or maybe instead I own that the problem is mine, not his, and so next time, knowing how I feel due to the PTSD, I make an appointment with the GP and ask for some help.

I was once on a train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. This poor lad was pacing up and down the carriages, sweating and panting and clearly not in a good way. So I asked him if I could do anything to help. He explained he was extremely claustrophobic. He had a specialist appointment in Edinburgh, but the train was his only option to get there - he couldn't bear car travel, bus travel or airplanes. So being closed in was making him feel unwell.

But hey, he didn't visit that on anyone, label them rude or antisocial for just living their lives not thinking of all us special snowflakes out there.

I think that people need to take ownership of their own problems and not try to make it someone else's problem. If it is making normal life, such as taking public transport, difficult you should seek help. Perhaps hypnotherapy is the way to go.
It does seem to be a MN problem - I would be thought bonkers on a train if I started asking fellow passengers if they minded what sandwich filling I had!

doris doesn't matter if it's not bad smelling, it's if it's strong

But what is strong smelling? DP can smell melted cheese at a thousand paces and it makes him gag, where as most people can't even smell the cheese small. Do you think that just because DP finds it a strong smell no one should eat it on a train?

I get nauseous a lot myself due to having issues with my kidneys and bowels, one of the side effects alas! Smells can really trigger it and make it worse, it's quite helpful to find a smell that doesn't trigger your nausea, like menthol for example (which I use), and use it on your sleeve so that you can cover your nose in public places.

It's nice when places cater to people with health issues or disabilities to make them accessible, but we also have to find our own strategies to cope with normal, expected behaviour in those places.

When something is open to the public we all have to sort of find a compromise so that we can all access it, and if eating isn't against the rules then finding a coping strategy is easier than asking everyone to cease what they are doing.

Do you lot think playing loud music or feet on seats is something people should just put up with too?

Have we reached such a depressing place that as long as it's not illegal its fine? Regardless of common courtesy?

But eating something isn't rude behaviour, whereas loud music and feet on seats is.

Mehitabel I agree, please don't make YOUR problems, someone elses. If I am on a long train journey and I want to eat, I will. I am afraid I will not think about whether the person next to me might vomit because I'm eating a packet of crisps, because you shouldn't be on public transport if it is that bad for you.

Tali if you have to avoid restaurants it is bad for you to smell cooking and food smells, to be honest you have my sympathies. But please do not expect me to have a rumbling tummy for hours on end on a train because I might be sat next to someone who feels and smells so strongly about food being eaten. You are the first person I have heard of that reacts so strongly to food and your pungent is someone else's delicious.

Eating something that smells is surely rude. I'm not the only one who thinks this, it's a pretty common view! How is feet on the seat rude but smelly food isn't? Both inconvienience others

Rousette couldn't you eat something that doesn't smell? I'm not saying I don't think people should eat, just that be considerate.

Have we reached such a depressing place that as long as it's not illegal its fine? Regardless of common courtesy?

Tali, you react violently to food smell. It is unusual. I am very courteous in my life but not with this.

You think it's rude. The train company does not. They fucking sell the food on there even. But carry on getting offended. It would have zero effect on me.

For this question to be asked it's clearly not just me who reacts like this though!

But Tali, you sound like you react to just about everything! There would be nothing that would suit you except dry bread, if you can't even go to restaurants! I would have no idea what you would like the smell of! I can't travel and not eat anything just in case I might be sat next to you!

But what is pungent and smelly to one person, isn't to another. There is no real way to judge whether or not the food you are eating might make another person feel ill.

Hunger is just as uncomfortable as nausea (if I don't eat regularly I get nauseous for example), and so I feel as long as people removed their rubbish that a meal on the train isn't a rude thing to do.

There's a general consensus though, for example eggs, pork, curry etc are all clearly pungent. Obviously there's some wiggle room but come on! No one is going to claim those things don't smell

'For this question to be asked it's clearly not just me who reacts like this though!'

It's because it's MN. Can't say I've ever encountered someone that sensitive on public transport in years. Ever, in fact. And again, it's their issue. I have one, too. It's mine, though. I have to do something about it, not expect everyone else to.

I ask the question how is it any different to feet on the seat expat???

Tali eggs and pork (never seen anyone having a curry on the train) do smell a bit but not pork eg not a sausage roll.

Again why do the M&S simply food etc at train stations sell egg sandwiches and ham sandwiches pork pies etc....?! For consumption on trains.

People will not stop eating on trains whether you like it or not, loud music isn't the same...

There was a bus/tube cartoon series of poster adverts which had people saying "I won't put my feet up etc eg if you won't eat smelly food" which does remind people to be considerate. So it makes you think. But ultimately the time it takes someone to eat a burger and chips compared to your travelling time with them it's not worthy of a complaint!

And like I said again OPEN THE WINDOW, or MOVE CARRIAGE or ask the person eating the food to kindly move (apologies for the caps!).

Because the feet didn't buy their own fucking ticket, Tali. That is why the train company forbids it.

Playing loud music and putting feet on seats is anti social - there are often notices about it.
It is no way comparable to eating your lunch- such a normal activity that the trains and planes provide it for those who may not have had time to bring their own.

Tali you've asked Rousette to eat something non smelly yet your version of smelly seems sensitive in the extreme.

Of course it is different to feet on seats!
Feet are not to go on seats.
Food is supposed to be eaten on trains.

Fan you've come up with a solution. If only more people could be considerate the other way like you.