Eating (and drinking) on the train - should it be allowed

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The Standard

Any Londoner who regularly travels by Tube will have encountered it: an obnoxious traveller tucking into a pungent McDonald’s, greasy fingers on greasy fries, each mouthful of quarter-pounder an act of inhumanity. Or another, Pizza Express box balanced on thighs, chowing down on slices of an American Hot, as pepperoni wafts around the carriage, an assault on the senses.

This is not even the nadir. The worst by far is the drunk with the kebab. Few dishes are more potent than a lamb doner, where thick ribbons of meat and fat squelch under a sea of garlic mayonnaise. Eating such a dish in the stuffy confines of an underground rail carriage with the only ventilation the dusty air of the tunnels? I think not.

Complex topic - multiple votes allowed

[PrestburyRoad]

On any train, but only at a safe smelling distance from other passengers.  Which depends on the smelliness of the food, and the distance to the nearest passenger who isn't part of your own group.

[johnneyw]

Anything not pungent, preferably eaten from a receptacle or wrapper that avoids mess.

[TaplowGreen]

Live and let live.....and let eat!

One man's pungent is another man's fragrant.

Getting upset about this issue is very much a First world problem.

[CyclingSid]

Old fashioned concept; with consideratin for other passengers.

[Bob_Blakey]

I selected the 'Something Else' option. As noted above consumption of food & drink on trains should always exhibit consideration for the passengers, and railway staff - respect subsequent users and the cleaners who have a horrible enough job already.
And no seriously 'pungent' food products; geographically OT but the complete public transport ban on the consumption, and in some instances carrying, of durian in Singapore and Malaysia comes to mind.

[TaplowGreen]

Old fashioned concept; with consideratin for other passengers.

A fair point, which goes both ways, along with tolerance.

[grahame]

27 out of 28 said yes, 19 of those without restriction on what the food should be.  I am eating buffalo wings at present ... I wonder if that thought will make anyone change their mind.

[Hafren]

I'm inclined to say there shouldn't be a rule against it, but people should be reasonably considerate in their choice of food. Lines are of course blurred; I don't find the smell of oranges or bananas particularly pleasant when the person next to me eats them, but they probably wouldn't generally be seen as noxious. Expectations will vary – a Tube train is a very enclosed space and it might be fiddly eating while standing in a crowd; on the other hand in a restaurant car one should assume there will be diners nearby.

I think having a soft drink is absolutely right. And when I have an early start I often plan around having some sort of breakfast on the train. Then there are those who might have a medical need to eat. On the other hand I think there are limits to what is pleasant to be around - but there will be a range of views on where the line is drawn, just as with a passenger having a loud phone call. Personally I'd stick to quite neutral foods, and I'll mostly only eat while I have a pair of seats to myself – a system that works well on journeys where I'm starting/ending at the quiet end, but wouldn't work for everyone.