stories : Table Manners
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Public Transit PicnicIs it rude to eat on the subway? |
Dear Helena,
I recently returned from New York, where I encountered multiple instances of food consumption on mass transit. If it wasn’t so hot, I’m sure the odor of the McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger wouldn’t have been so foul, and the assortment of fries that fell to the ground, collecting black shoe prints, wouldn’t have been so foul—but I about threw up.
People in New York eat a lot of granola/energy bars, little bites from Ziploc bags—the worst offenders are the homeless who somehow manage to lump a five-course meal into a dirty plastic bag that inevitably leaks onto the seat or falls to the floor and, as the bus climbs a hill, makes a beeline toward your feet.
What is the etiquette of eating on public transit? When is it acceptable? I ate an apple on the bus, and it was a particularly quiet bus, so it felt a little like a spectacle … but I enjoyed it. —Jaded Commuter
Dear Jaded Commuter,
Eating on a train or bus can be messy and malodorous, which is why many public transit systems prohibit it. Jack Taylor, an associate creative director in Brooklyn, New York, says of the subway: “I don’t mind smelling a pungent curry in the right context, like an Indian restaurant, but not on my way home, mixing with other people’s body odor.” Worse, eating on a moving vehicle can be hazardous. Taylor says he gets nervous when he sees someone board a crowded car clutching a morning coffee. “You’re just staring at that coffee cup, wondering when the subway brakes are going to hit and the coffee is going to go flying all over you.”
Subway dining is bad for the diner as well as for other passengers. You’ve been touching germ-infested poles, turnstiles, and armrests, so unless you have an antiseptic wipe you’ll be eating with dirty hands.
Moreover, eating is one of the more reliable pleasures in life, and when you do so you should pay attention. The French traditionally linger over meals and would not dream of spoiling their food by eating it on le Métro. Fabrice Habelski, a wine broker originally from the suburbs of Paris, recoils in horror at the very idea: “It is illegal and unconscionable.” He says he has never seen anyone do it, “not even peanuts out of a bag.”
It’s sad if you can’t set aside time to enjoy a meal, even if it’s only 10 or 15 minutes. You need not always have a cloth napkin, but you should at the very least have a stationary surface on which to rest your food. (When you’re being jolted and jostled, your lap doesn’t make much of a table.) And while you’re eating, you shouldn’t be worried about missing your stop.
There are two exceptions to the no-subway-dining rule. Not everyone has the time and the place to enjoy a meal. Obviously, it’s OK to eat on a train or bus if you don’t have much of a choice. For instance, a homeless person might prefer to dine in a subway carriage rather than on a freezing park bench. And, as Taylor points out, many chronic subway diners have “two or three jobs” through financial necessity, and genuinely have no other time to eat.
The other exception to the rule is when your need is urgent. It’s OK to scarf some trail mix if you’re diabetic and will otherwise lapse into a coma. And it’s OK to eat a banana if you’re on your way to a job interview and your low blood sugar might make you flub it. What is the perfect subway snack for such occasions? As you have observed, many New Yorkers have already discovered it: an energy or granola bar. It’s neat, and odorless.
Table Manners appears every Wednesday. Have a Table Manners question? Email Helena.
Another good choice for subway eating is the pretzel! Anything that is dry, does not smell, and does not create a mess afterward is ideal and should not present a problem. Even certain liquids in the right kind of container, like juice boxes, should be all right as long as they are easy to control given the bumps and lurches of a subway car.
But anything gooey, liquid that can spill, or odiferous is just unfriendly to one's fellow travelers. This includes some fruit such as apples and bananas, which can really smell very strongly and leave behind a mess.
Worse case scenario -- on the bus in the middle of winter, the heaters are on full blast, the bus is packed, and this guy decides to eat a HARD-BOILED EGG!!! PEEEE YUUUU!!
Just the other day, I was on the bus when all of the sudden, I smelled something terribly fishy. I thought it was one of the passengers who had just boarded and sat in front of me, so I moved, only to find out it was another passenger on the bus having some kind of soup. The smell was awful.
Ugh. This simply would not have happened 20 years ago. I'm surprised the rest of the passengers didn't revolt in both cases and eject the offenders from the bus. But in the case of the fish, aren't you glad it was soup and not a person? (Small mercies . . . )
Eating's illegal on the DC subway. The transit cops kinda went overboard and arrested a girl for eating frenchfries, but there it is.
In a perfect world, people would eat quietly and put their trash in a proper receptacle. But in the DC subway, they took out the garbage cans because they're "terrorist targets" and everyone eats like a pig. No decorum. No respect for others. No eating on the subway.
"Obviously, it’s OK to eat on a train or bus if you don’t have much of a choice. For instance, a homeless person might prefer to dine in a subway carriage rather than on a freezing park bench."
Ugh! What PC baloney.
The homeless in NYC do not sleep on freezing park benches unless they are too drunk to make it home. Home being: PATH stations, Subway stations, etc. Their are many shelters available, which often go, mostly, unused, because the homeless there need to follow some basic rules, like, using bathrooms, no screaming, no fighting, etc.
Let's save the victim-speak for the real victims out there.
BBettinaB: "This simply would not have happened 20 years ago."
WRONG. 20 years ago I first learned that eating on public transit was uncool, when a woman standing over me on a crowded streetcar, scarfing a pita sandwich, dribbled alfalfa sprouts ito the open tote bag that was sitting between my feet. She apologized halfheartedly, but did not stop eating.
That said, I admit that for a couple of years I routinely ate dinner (usually a sandwich) on a commuter rail train, because I had no time to make a meal stop on my way from work to a weekly dance practice. However, I always brought plenty of napkins and a bag for my trash, and was careful to leave no trace of my meal behind. Also, the train in question was rarely full, so I didn't usually have a seatmate - on the rare occasions when I did, I refrained from eating until after they left.
In so many cities eating on public transportation is illegal but of course rarely is it enforced. It all boils down to plain old consideration and sadly there seems to be less and less of it as the years go by. I guess I'm just an old fart after all.
My personal favorites from the subway in Boston are the guy I saw eating cereal from a bowl (milk and all) and a kid who was so sleepy while eating his sticky bun that he dozed off in the mid-bite and dropped it on the floor. His mother smacked him for dozing off, but neither bothered to pick up the sticky bun.
I have occasion to carry odiferous take-out home on the T, and while I imagine some passengers are annoyed at this, it's nothing compared to the wrath I would encounter arriving at home sans Indian food.
DougRisk,
While I agree there are some - even many - homeless who definitely fit your stereotype, there are also many who do not. And many shelters are not used because they are more dangerous to sleep in than some of the more public alternatives such as those you mention.
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Allstonian,
Yuck! I don't seem to remember lots of public transportation eating going on back then. Lots on the LIRR and Metro North but little in the subway. But you mention streetcars, I'm recalling NYC subway. Do you live in SF? I think I want to move out there.
B
There is nothing worse than sitting down in majorly crowded train for a 30 minute ride home to have some WONDERFUL person sit next to you with STREET MEAT sausage.
SICK.
Station, fine. Train carriage, no.
I have no shame in admitting that I eat regularly on public transportation. I don't think that there's anything wrong with it, and I don't look down on others who do so - of which there are quite a few here in Toronto - provided that they don't make a mess. With many people having to commute 2-3 hours a day here, it's convenient and sometimes necessary to be able to have a snack on the subway, streetcar, or bus.
As for food smells, it's almost impossible to find a food whose odour will not offend someone. I used to think, for example, that bananas were fine, since they're clean and easy to eat, but I have a few friends who claim that the smell of bananas completely nauseates them. A street meat sausage also would strike me as an easy-to-eat, fairly clean and logical choice, but clearly some people disagree, given MissDarling's comment. Certainly, there are some things that are generally more tolerated than others, and hopefully people try to be conscious of that, but it's impossible to please everyone. (Obviously, just not eating on public transportation would offend nobody, but I don't think it's a reasonable expectation of people.)
Wow!! Some of you seem a little too delicate for public transportation! I eat and drink on the subway, and I agree that it is gross when people spill and drip. Not cool! HOWEVER, it's just not true that people didn't do this 20 years ago - it was common twenty years ago for people smoke on the subway, for example ( illegal, yes, but commonly done, also yes, esp. late at night or in the 1st or last cars). Also, really, a banana is not a durian. What would you have done 20 years ago when the AC was out on 3/4 of the cars?
After riding BART late one night and observing the man across the aisle from me rolling a joint and then hearing him snorting something, food doesn't seem like a big deal. I would eat a little snack on the way home from work most days, and don't see any problem with it.
If you get caught eating on the buses or metro rails in LA, you get a heaping big fine.
I can understand it. Not only does it piss off other passengers,lazy dirty people often leave huge sticky or unpleasant messes for the cleaning crew.
Worse is the girl I saw late at night after probably her first "party night" in the Hollywood and Highland metro station. Reeling everywhere, hanging on her put-upon but probably partially to blame friends, munching on a big burrito. She made it into the train car, and guess what she decided to share with everyone between Hollywood and North Hollywood?
So I guess she definitely wasn't EATING on the public transportation. Sorta the opposite, but worse! Did any of the little twits even attempt to clean it up? Oh, Hell no. Little drunken princesses scooted away and scampered out at the stop.
I bet their mommies and daddies would be proud. *snort*
Eat either before or after you're on the subway. It's like smoking, or bringing stinky food on an airliner. No one else wants to inhale whatever curry/liverwurst/epoisse/limburger creation that another person is having, esp in a standing room situation with people who use the cheapest cologne they can find.
hmm, not living in a subway city in the US, I thought it was just Germanness that brought such stares in Berlin if I ate on the platform. Apparently not!
The comments I got were similar to the Parisians' Helena quotes--one should enjoy one's food at a proper table. Tables were provided upstairs where I brought my lunch; I never used them because they had no seats. I don't mean the seats were occupied, I mean it was a "Stehcafe" with tall tables and no stools. Comments re: how inferior US "culture of eating"must be if I was willing to eat on a bench waiting for a train always struck me as ironic, given that alternative.
this is a problem of epidemic proportions in Toronto- it doesn't help that there are several McD's restaurants IN subway stations.
Are people expected to eat in the mcD's? Is seating provided?
I'm sorry but I just can't believe how petty people are. Of course it's irritating when someone is eating something smelly or potentially messy right next to you but to really take it personally that a homeless person isn't prioritizing your feelings about his or her food's odor is ridiculous. If you really think that you have insight into homeless people's decision-making I think you need a serious reality check.
I don't think your French commentator has been on the Paris Metro lately, because unfortunately you'll see more and more French people (not just tourists) eating on the run (and wearing flip-flops and shorts--another thing I thought would never happen). It's too bad fewer people have time for a proper meal these days.
Also, with airlines cutting back on food, you see more people packing their own food on planes (often with more than 3oz of sauce, I think--a nice loophole for foodie terrorists, I'm sure).
In at least the past ten years, utilitarianism continues to beat style.
As a one-time resident of Staten Island, NY -- which boasts one of the worst commutes in the U.S. (mine was 150 minutes round-trip in the best-case scenario) -- I've shamelessly consumed my fair share of meals on mass transit. For some commuters, that's their only downtime; it certainly was for me. I was quite fortunate in that I could at least wait until I was off the subway and on another, less "intimate" mode of transport where I could have a few square feet of privacy, such as in the open air on a sparsely peopled ferry. The bottom line is that commuters who shuffle from one workplace to the next still need to eat, and unless the local transportation authority bans it (and actually enforces the ban), one can hardly prevent them. (Especially when food is so often available for purchase on train platforms -- even in lovely Berlin, where some platforms sport full-blown bakeries!)
Very few food smells really bother me at all but yeah, this is just another addition to the list of utterly thoughtless and inconsiderate things people seem to consider themselves entitled to do wherever they find themselves in public these days. If you're really starving, stick with a cold cuts sandwich and skip it altogether if the car's at all crowded. And if and when people glare at you, at least have the common courtesy not to glare back, even if you're not willing to wrap it back up and finish it later....
Much as few food smells really bother me, yeah, this is up there on the list of totally thoughtless and inconsiderate things people seem to think themselves entitled to do wherever they find themselves these days. If you really must, and the previously mentioned pretzel isn't enough, stick with a cold cuts sandwich, in a not-so-crowded car, and oh, yeah, if people glare at you, at least have the common courtesy not to glare back if you aren't willing to wrap it back up and finish it later...
What happens if a person spills a drink or food on your brand new $500 coat or shoes? Who is going to pay for the cleaning? You think the offender is? That's why eating and drinking on mass transit should be illegal and that law should be enforcd. That and the fact that nobody should be subject to offending smells.
Anyone wearing a $500 coat who remains seated next to someone eating or drinking anything "messy" arguably deserves whatever they get. (Very much so IMNSHO but I'm trying to be nice. <lol>)
Or are you also suggesting that the parent(s) of some little kid who grabs your arm with sticky fingers should have to pay that cleaning bill, too? In short, if you can't afford to have your $500 coat cleaned, you should probably save it for a cabride during night out on the town, not your daily commute to work...
As for enforcing it, where do you think you are, Philadelphia?
I can't imagine ingesting food while surrounded by god-knows-what on the train. What if you have to grab the poll, and then touch your food. Oh no, I think not.
what a ridiculous question. you can always move away if someone offends you. as usual, comments about L.A. make me glad I don't live there.
ChristineR's comment reminded me of what was possibly the most disgusting thing I ever saw once on a streetcar in this city (Toronto). I boarded a crowded car and right in the front seat on her mother's lap sat a little blonde girl, perhaps eight, who was frighteningly similar to that horrible little thing from the Welch's grape juice commercials of the past (you know the one - she had a hint of cute to her, but seemed somehow evil at the same time). Her mother watched with indifference while the girl repeatedly licked one of the metal poles like it was an ice cream cone.
*shudder*
Now, I strongly believe that much of the world is far too obsessive and squeamish about germs (which may well be responsible for a number of health problems), and I have no qualms about touching things that other people have touched, like subway poles, bathroom sink taps, etc, but licking a streetcar pole definitely send some shivers coursing across my spine.
Ewww!
I'm down with eating on the subway, provided it's not something messy or fragrant, but eating the subway itself is a different matter!
In NYC I'd say that eating or drinking is not rude per se. Depends on what it is, whether it smells, and whether you are capable of being neat about it.
I live in Brooklyn at the end of a train line. My standard "eat on the train" food is a bagel w/ cream cheese and a gatorade. I can consume it within a few stops, before anyone really needs to be sitting next to me.
Also, at night when waits are longer I'll occasionally bring a slice of pizza down into the station. You can almost always finish it before your train comes.
Say what you want about overzealous enforcement (there was a recent case of a 14 year old girl getting busted by the Food Cops for eating a bag of Funions or something) but, even though it's oft criticized for it's sterile environment, they don't allow food on the DC Subway. It is, frankly, remarkably clean. They hassle everyone and Dc being what it is, people point and rat you out if you are eating. Recently I had a big bag of Ethiopian fare that I had gotten to take home, and the cops almost didn't let me on the train.
That being said, drinks, in good containers with lids, seem pretty harmless to me, but they don't allow those either, although enforcement is much more lax.
The DC subway system was definitely very clean when I lived there. In defense of eating and drinking on public transportation, the Toronto subway system isn't really all that messy most of the time, either, and you are permitted food and beverages. Unless people are disgusting pigs (and most of them aren't), I don't think it makes a vast difference.
I was sitting on the Toronto subway. Some guy sits besides me (legs spread wide open, brushes up against me) then opens a hot meal for fries and I don't know what. I eventually moved because the smell and his creepy legs revolted me. I was also heading to work and didn't want to smell like food.
Would you eat on the subway if the person beside you was clipping their nails? Yes another topic all together, but it another reason why it is wrong.
Re: mikeg
just because someone is wearing a $500 or a $10 coat. do not deserve to have food spilt on them or smell like the food. That is just My opinion. yes, i would move, but it would irk me that i should have to.
Fara wrote: "as usual, comments about L.A. make me glad I don't live there. "
We're glad you don't, too.
"Would you eat on the subway if the person beside you was clipping their nails? Yes another topic all together, but it another reason why it is wrong."
This actually happened to my sister on a plane ride. The woman next to her unclasp the serving tray latch in front of her, put her foot on it, and began clipping her nails. My sister was grossed out and called the stewardess, who told the passenger to stop what she was doing. Amazingly, the passenger had no idea why it was improper!
That's the thing about things like this: it's a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable. Once the dam breaks, watch out!
You people need to relax and prioritize your concerns a bit. I once sat on a subway car across from a homeless guy, pants around his ankles, touching himself in totally inappropriate ways. I would certainly have preferred that he had broken out a bag of fries. Better to smell some grease than to see what I saw.
It's not the what, it's the how. I have an hour plus commute on New York's lovely F train. Like too many others, I have to be at work at nine, and the seven thirty to eight trains get quite packed with Brooklynites. One morning, I snagged a middle seat, only to have a thoughtless young woman hold on to the bar above my head, hang over me and proceed to eat her toast. No offensive smell. But crumbs. On my lap. In my hair. And she slung her diner coffee cup in the side compartment of her bag, hanging over me like some awful tortuous pendulum.
There is a DARN good reason eating on the subway is against the rules. Finish your toast in the station, and wait for the next train. Just because you have bad time management and can't afford five minutes at home doesn't mean that I should have to wear your meal.
PS- there is a special place in hell for people who think it's OK to leave their half empty coffees on the floor of the train. There are more than enough garbage cans in New York, and I don't want your light and sweet backwash on my shoes.
As someone who grew up in good old NYC, spent six years in London, travels a lot, and continues to spend large amounts of time in NYC (I pay some taxes there so have the right to moan about NYC public transport if I like!), I can say I've seen a whole lot of inappropriate behavior on public transport internationally.
Regarding the "Just move if you are wearing a 500 dollar coat," no matter what your clothes cost, you sometimes can't move due to a crowded train/bus. And why do you deserve to get nailed as noted above? No one does!
If your answer, or anyone else's, is "Just get up and push yourself out, someone will be glad to switch places" sorry folks, but I'm using a cane just now -- talk to my future back surgeon (not a lie). If I can sit (or if my mum with fractured foot who is getting a new knee in three weeks can sit) I am desperately grateful. Thanks for dumping and spewing food on us while we sit. And then making the walking surfaces dangerous by chucking your crap around when there is no need to make the walking worse!
There is another "Do Not Nosh on Transport" elephant in this room not yet mentioned -- allergies. I do not happen to have any, but for some reason many in this nation are violently allergic to peanuts for one. Obsession with germ eradication? Putting peanut derivatives in absolutely every food from large food corporations? I don't know why and don't have the time to ask Science, but there it is.
So while I would love to chew trail mix on the subway, I'll sure choose peanut-free mix. The suggestion of compact energy bars or soft granola bars (peanut free!) is an excellent one.
There are methods to deal with needing to eat on the run -- I like the non-smelly coldcuts with leaf lettuce (not cascading lettuce clips) idea. Yogurt/soy drinks? Just keep in mind that it is indeed a big world, and there are many real reasons that noshing on public transport is illegal in a myriad of places.
I've had a few instances where I have, comng back from a grocery store at 10:30 with the steam table food in a near empty train-- Okay, I indulged. Sometimes I'll grab a cup of cofee on the way to the train, or nibble something small.
The real point is, just be considerate of your fellow passangers, don't drop crumbs on a another passenger, if you spill wipe it up. Don't eat smelly things.
I grew up in DC (have lived in NY for 10 years) and I still can NEVER eat on the subway. Even if I theoretically wanted to, I would have that lingering fear of being arrested.
After 10 years I can drink from a water bottle. MAYBE coffee.
And I too have witnessed the subway nail-clipping. As well as a woman, at 8 am rush hour, removing her nail polish on the train and throwing the used cotton balls under the seat. Talk about a vomit-inducing smell. But I digress...
I lived in Manhattan for a long time and could never get over the repulsive feeling I got whenever I saw someone eating on the subway or a bus. Actually, I do not like to see anyone eating on public transit. Here's how I feel about it. Food should be savored--it should be enjoyed and any meal should be an event--whether it is a grand meal or simply eating mac n'cheese and hotdogs with your kids. I have always encouraged my children (now grown) to never eat in a subway, bus, car, or on the street. It is vulgar and bad manners. I do realize that on some occassions, it is fine to eat on the go--such as an amusement park or a bazaar or an outdoor festival. But really, eating while you are on public transportation shows a lack of self-respect AND a lack of respect for others and for the food!