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?

The person who want to be impolite wanting and doing are two different things. Presumably you want to be impolite but resist because you're a good person.

'If you're eating a polite meal I don't think anyone would say anything, I certainly wouldn't moan about something non offensive'

And her idea of a 'polite meal' was nothing that would remotely sustain a person on a long journey and totally unsuitable for people who have certain medical conditions, allergies or intolerances.

polite food that would suit everyone. I think we are all agreed we shouldn't or wouldn't scoff on a takeaway curry or boiled eggs. well that's something! Yeah the thread is but I originally commented saying "it's antisocial if it smells" so I wasn't talking about other food.

expat maybe I just eat less than others but a piece of toast and a piece of fruit would do me for lunch. I wouldn't say it's unsustainable.

I know nothing about diabetes though so fair enough

'I just eat less than others but a piece of toast and a piece of fruit would do me for lunch. I wouldn't say it's unsustainable.

I know nothing about diabetes though so fair enough'

It would suit you, who also admits to nibbling on dry toast and calling it breakfast. This is not at all sustainable for a lot of people, not just diabetics. My 7-year-old would be starving on that, so would my husband, who is skinny as a whippet. You can't expect everyone to be like you, act like you.

And you really need to see a doctor because it sounds like you might have a health condition which makes you find smells the rest of the world consider ordinary so awful you vomit.

I have been out again and each day that I come back, expecting it must have ground to a halt, there is more!
VoyagerDad had the sensible link this morning which was against extremists on either side. It was against mess and very strongly smelling food, but also against the very 'precious' who made a fuss about any food at all. The article said that a burger was OK ( even on the 7.20 to Waterloo!)
I haven't seen anyone eating on the tube- it is a different sort of journey and generally short
. I love the idea that 3rd class should be for food when it is 1st class that is most definitely for food- even at breakfast time.
In RL it is just common sense and has never caused me the slightest problem-it is a non issue. At lunch time everyone eats.

Mehitabel we have the thread that keeps on giving for Christmas!
nothing to do with me banging on of course!

Curer I daren't click on that old thread or I might self implode! Getting thirsty is not down to advertising! My dear old Dad, on his death certificate, the cause of death was "dehydration". I also have a friend who was on holiday, wasn't drinking enough water abroad, and ended up on a drip in hospital. And my sis in her mid 60's drinks loads of water and looks fabularse for her age!

expat maybe I just eat a lighter lunch than a lot of people

I do agree I think I have osmophobia that someone linked to, I hadn't heard of it until yesterday

If you are nibbling dry toast for brekkie, then a piece of toast and a piece of fruit, yeah, that's a lighter lunch than even most schoolchildren.

expat I do eat in between, usually more fruit and then eat a bigger meal at dinner. I thought a pot of fruit was a pretty normal lunch until this thread

I need to drink all the time. I take a cocktail of medications many of which make you thirsty. I am always gasping, and if I go much more than 15 minutes without a drink my tongue sticks to my mouth and my lips stick to my teeth and I can's speak. That's not down to advertising (and I hate sugary fizzy drinks).

'I thought a pot of fruit was a pretty normal lunch until this thread'

It isn't. And even with your 'bigger' meal, considering how little you eat during the day, you might even be malnourished and/or anaemic on top of possibly having osmophobia.

expat I calorie count, I don't go below 1,200 at the moment (losing post partum weight) but normally I don't go below 1,600. I don't think I'm malnourished and I take an iron supplement as I'm not a meat fan.

Whatever you say, but a pot of fruit isn't even considered a typical lunch for a schoolchild, much less an adult.

It goes beyond the food-as-a-basic-need thing, but 8 hour train journeys are not pleasant. A lunch that is more than a piece of toast (which would be very sad-looking after 4 hours in cling film!) and an apple is one of the few things that breaks up the monotony.

Lmao at 'polite meals'. If this thread has anything to teach us it's that there is nothing you can eat or drink that won't upset someone.

Well... an egg sandwich is very rude and effs and blinds a lot

I am truly baffled: why do you enjoy making other people life a misery? Why don't you behave and show consideration for others? Do you actually enjoy it? Is your life so miserable and sad that it makes you feel better to be a nuisance, stink the place up, keep your seat when someone else needs it, be noisy?

I think people are overthinking this eating on a train business. People are hungry. So they eat. The end.

I do not personally care that someone is upset by the smell of my cafe sandwich/fajita/burger or anything I can eat with my hands. I care that I am hungry and will eat while it's convenient before I arrive at work and won't get a chance to until afternoon, or before I get home and have stuff I have to do. If it makes other people miserable, they are welcome to get off and wait for the next train/bus. It's not like I eat anything messy anyway, as I wouldn't want it sloshing onto my lap or spilling on my clothes, which rules out about 90% of all saucy/smelly things.

I'm not particularly fussed about how a stranger I don't know and will likely never see again feels about my sandwich. Why would their "feelings" trump mine? They are capable of moving or not sitting next to me.

It's a mild inconvenience just like loud headphone, humming, tapping your fingers, or clicking your pen against your notebook. Not a travesty against human kind. A little perspective.

If they are truly so miserable that it makes it unbearable to ride, they need therapy and medication to cope with the outside world. If they have a disorder then they need to learn how to cope with the world as it is, not expect other people to cater to them.

I would never eat on the Tube. I eat on a train especially on a journey more than an hour or two. I refuse to covertly sneak in a bite here and there like it's something illegal.

I completely zone out to the sound of someone eating, it is possible you know.

We are all very different. I wouldn't eat on an escalator and hope not to be in a platform enough to eat on a bench.

'But if i grab a sub from Pret , i might take a bite on the escalator if no one is around. On the platform if there's an empty bench away from people i might take a few more bites.

Unless there is only one person, far away, on the tube carriage, i won't get my sub out of my bag. Ditto the train.'

You have some issues, Voyage, and I mean that in the politest way possible, but you have some real hang ups that border a bit on the paranoid.

'and if you hate the sound of people eating, and someone is, it's torture. '

If you consider that tortuous, again, please see a professional, you may have one of those phobias that can be treated.

Who enjoys eating whilst walking around a street or on an escalator, I'd have it all down my blouse! I want to enjoy my tuna baguette when I have it, I don't want to be ramming it in my gob whilst walking.

It all sounds very furtive and paranoid, too.

When I was at school we were not allowed to eat on the street in school uniform - it is a bit ingrained with me and therefore I find anyone eating on the move a bit rude ( not that it bothers me enough to start a thread about it)