AIBU to eat on public transport

[BitBehind]

I feel like I'm asking MN a lot recently but it's been v helpful recently!

So I'm travelling back home from the office and totally wiped out and for some reason my body was telling me I needed sushi. So I got a little box from some overpriced place at the station

And now I feel like I have to eat it in 2 mins flat as feel so self conscious eating it. I forgot how weird it feels eating in public. Its not smelly but I don't know.. is it acceptable to eat food on a train in the heat full of commuters? I'm doing it right now but I thunk perhaps AIBU.

What are your views? Eating on buses/trains etc?

Why?

@BitBehind it wouldn't bother me at all. Not even McD's or BK and I'm vegetarian😂. It would only bother me a bit if it was something that (to me) had a horrible smell, but as the person eating it wouldn't know that, I wouldn't be angry etc.

as for 'uncouth' etc. I'd far rather someone was eating than yakking on their phone or playing music!!

@EcoEcoIA eating an entire clove of garlic on a busy train is beyond inconsiderate. Why on earth would you do that on the train rather than at home? Sushi is fine though.

I used to work with a bloke that ate Clive's & cloves of garlic every day (more st home than in the office) he stank so badly no one wanted to be on a hub with him or even in the same (large) office tbh.

occasionally to get rid of a cold etc, fine (at home) but unless you want to be a social outcast, don't make a habit of it!

mackerel, I assume, would stink does it not??

Sushi is fine! Anything that smells strongly is a no. There are much worse things you can do on trains (like have your phone on loud speaker at full volume while you’re on hold)

@ChangedMyNamrButStillMe my nose started to run on the way to the station, so I grabbed some garlic. Yes I was very inconsiderate.

Its only a problem on MN 🙄. IRL people do it all the time.

@JuneJubilee cold mackerel is fine. The "cat's breath" when it's warmed up might not be pleasant. But I was at least a meter away form anyone in the street.

I see people eating on pretty much every bus or train I take, it is totally normal and accepted outside of MN where everyone has the nose of a bloodhound and will throw up instantly if fast food is within 100ft of them.

I like to enjoy my food and I just can’t eat ‘on the go’. If you can and the food isn’t offensive to others around you then knock yourself out.

Of course you can eat on a train. It wouldn't bother me at all unless it was something horrendously stinky. I don't see why it would bother anyone else either. I eat on trains. It passes the time and means I often won't need to prepare a meal when I arrive at my destination.

Some trains even have trolley or shop service on board.

Doesn't eating sushi with one hand whilst Mumsnetting with the other, make doing both of those things more difficult?

It wouldn't bother me at all.
Sushi doesn't really smell anyway. I love sushi.

It is only frowned upon on MN, which you can safely ignore. 😉

I like to get the smelliest thing I can and hope someone starts a mumsnet aibu about me.

I will always be amazed at how many people have a weird thing about other people eating near them.

Sure I get if it’s smelly food, that can affect your comfort. But other food? Literally just SEEING someone eating? So odd.

Eat up OP!

I was on the train the other day and the Asparagus Tortellini they served me was quite smelly, I don't really understand why MN seem to think eating on a train is not acceptable. If they can give me food that smells, OP can eat her non smelly sushi.

It isn't...but some people are weird! Just crack on and ignore them 🤷‍♀️

Yep!

Totally acceptable, and a very efficient use of time. I often eat my lunch on the train if I’m travelling between two sites as otherwise it’s dead time.

I would be eating my food and fuck everyone else. You really don't want to see me hangry!

In the scenario you describe it seems fine. I don't like eating in public but have I wolfed down a sandwich between heading to meetings in different locations? Absolutely I have.

@daisypond That makes absolutely no sense, they are all exactly the same type of space.

Lots of people eat on public transport. Like eating in the street it's not especially elegant, but as long as it's not messy or smelly (McDs only on the nightbus when you and everyone else is pissed), there is no pressing reason you shouldn't.

Yes I'd eat on a train; probably not when absolutely packed but if you can get a seat, what you're eating doesn't smell. I'd rather that than have to deal with low blood sugar. 🌹

I often have to get a train home from London at 7.15. I’ll be buggered if I’m waiting till I get home at 9 to have some dinner, so I’ll collect something cold to eat from M&S or Sainsburys and eat it on the train, even if there’s a stranger next to me. I love setting out my little airline style table with my drink, and napkin and whatever I’ve chosen. Nobody has ever objected, or even made any passive-aggressive huffs and puffs. I wouldn’t bring hot food onto a packed train, but given that you can buy all manner of burgers, bacon baps and other hot comestibles actually on the train, I can’t see that even that would be a problem. The smell of beery breath and spilled white wine is more objectionable, to me at least.

The difference is the type of journey and service. A bus or local train trip might be minutes. An intercity trip a couple of hours. A shorter trip, wait till you get off. It’s true, though, that you might make a very short trip between two stops on an intercity train, and that would be OK to eat - because the nature of that train service is to have food on board - via the buffet or trolley - so it’s OK to eat on those trains. There is no way I would eat on a tube, local bus or train. But I would on an intercity train or coach.