WHY is it considered rude to eat in the street?

[policywonk]

Following on from another thread... I've never understood the thinking behind this (in fact, I'd never heard it at all until I was in my twenties).

Is it a middle class thing? Is it because street food is considered to be the preserve of the poor (I know this is the case in some developing countries)?

I can understand why it's inconsiderate to eat strong-smelling foods in enclosed spaces, but other than that I'm bemused by this one.

God no it's not just Parisian blokes that wee in the street. They do it everywhere, it's quite disgusting.

Self control only applies to issues relating to food in France.

Def not weeing, or sex

dW, would you find it disgusting if you encountered me eating a Bounty bar in about three bites? Assuming that I wasn't spraying you with it or eating it with my mouth open or slowing down?

"doffernet"

Sounds like Ena Sharples rearranging her hair

i think eating is a private thing....

PW, I'd wonder how you hadn't managed to choke and wow, what a big mouth you had!

Really how can eating be private?

sorry Ponders. I have a condition called Crappius Typingitis. It's where my brain fires off thought snad my fingers can't catch up!

hf - well yes, that's true. I also think all the things you list are loony rules for people with very few critical faculties, tbh. Why on earth should any of those things matter?

It's like that priceless thing about how one must never read a novel in a drawing room. And marmalade is only OK so long as it's homemade.

Can NEVER remember which way round the loo/toilet thing goes.

AFAIC, manners is about being kind and making other people feel welcome and comfortable. Everything else is just a deliberately complicated code, constructed for the purposes of distinguishing between U and non-U.

Exactly Policywonk. Making people feel COMFORTABLE. It makes me and many others uncomfortable to see people eating while on the move, therefore does that not make it bad manners to eat whilst doing so?

Not if it makes you uncomfortable in a completely irrational way. We can't just call that 'bad manners'. It is some perversity.

I really hesitated before putting that 'comfortable' in there, for that reason

It's a very broad thing, making people comfortable - I don't think anyone can really be expected to cater for absolutely everything that random strangers are going to dislike.

In this instance, manners - to me - consists of: not eating smelly food in public places, not eating with my mouth open, not spitting bits of food on people when I'm talking to them, not touching other people/things when I have greasy fingers, not stopping dead in the middle of the pavement to pull a gherkin out of my Big Mac... all fair enough.

Why would it make you feel uncomfortable tho ? Another MN thread I don't get ..I hardly notice what other people in the street are doing

Has no-one got a copy of Debretts?

It's not just you halfcut - I find it baffling too!

Oh, and what are these 'steakbakes' that you are all eating?

get thee to greggs

halfcut;

i think eating is a private thing...something to be done at a table...

but i am passionate about good food....i obviously have a different relationship with it than you do...

dp, why so pompous about it?

It's daft.

But then, I have a dislike of people who have a dislike of completely harmless activities. So perhaps I'm just as bad.

I save my real loathing though for people who use the word 'common', or even worse 'vulgar' (God I hate that word).

Righto pointy. I must say, the only thing that stops me investigating Greggs is the bloody enormous queues - they're obviously doing something right.

Ah DP - Masterchef wannabe

It's commonsense innit? Eating and walking around equals an increased choking hazard.

oh god sorry.....that did sound really pompous...

didn't mean to...

My grandmother always said it was so middle class to eat in the street.

Ooh, I quite like the word 'vulgar', it's so satisfying to say. I tend to reserve it for people who only care about money though