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Eating smelly food on trains

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Bantamzen

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If price is an issue, don't buy stuff in stations - it's all overpriced. BK isn't cheap anyway.

Cheaper than Leon though, although up here in grim West Yorkshire BK is a long forgotten thing at our largest station. Its McD or KFC on the concourse at Leeds.

Fine, replace it with an Upper Crust or whatever, or even a purveyor of BR style cheese on Mother's Pride. The point is if you don't want greasy, unpleasant-smelling food eaten on trains, the easiest solution, as most people buy stuff in stations, is not to sell greasy unpleasant-smelling food in stations.

Whilst I don't particularly like the smell, I for one am not going to get bent out of shape about others eating the stuff on the train. My earlier point was that replacing these kind out outlets with more expensive, if slightly healthier outlets for the sake of people's health isn't exactly the smartest idea away from the City of London. Perhaps if Leon extended their health policy to people's finances...

By the way there's already a Leon in Euston and I believe the prices are not marked up.

Well I'm sure that goes down well with the Buckinghamshire set. However when I saw the Leon prices (not on their website funnily enough), I went all Yorkshire and shouted "How Much???".

You'll be pleased to know that there's a LEON opening at Leeds soon. But stations shouldn't be exclusively the preserve of yuppie food.

Indeed, however I'm sure that some people in Leeds will delight at the prospect of some Yuppie food outlet that they can tell all their colleagues about. Personally I'll be giving it a wide berth, not just because of the Yorkshire incompatible prices, but because if I want to eat healthier, which I often do, I use the much maligned area of our homes the kitchen and cook fresh, healthier food.

How the heck is this debate still ongoing?

Because RUK....
 
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DerekC

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Yes, the new age of joyless puritanism is well and truly on us.

Not sure that's really fair. In the long ago times when you got fed on a plane, everybody ate at the same time, some degree of smelliness was inevitable and nobody complained because it was part of the experience. In the same way when a colleague of mine regularly ate smoked haddock for breakfast on trips from Darlington to London (sigh of reminiscence!) and stank out the whole restaurant car, nobody said a word because it was smelly food provided by the railway and everybody was eating at the same time. The world was more formal and people generally didn't eat in public places. The world is now much less formal and everybody eats different things at different times, anywhere. The disadvantage is that it's not great to sit next to or opposite someone gulping down something smelly when you have nothing to eat yourself. I don't hanker for the good old days (other than a nice breakfast on an Inter-City train), but not enjoying the downside of modern freedoms doesn't make me a joyless puritan (I hope!).
 

Terry Tait

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Modern freedoms are a green light to thuggish and unthoughtful behaviour among the underclass who then leave smelly food cartons and coffee cups all over the train tables and seats
 

Sapphire Blue

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I can remember coming back a few years ago from a football match somewhere in the South with a stinking cold.

Walked into a local takeaway at King's Cross, and left a few minutes later with a HOT curry and rice and sitting in a 365 back to Peterborough...

Few comments (mostly saying how nice it smelled, and "eat it quick mate, before it crinkles the paint on the roof!!) - only one complaint which was from some snotty woman taking up a bay of 6 seats by herself, her obese daughter and ther shopping - and they were tucking into a Family size KFC bucket meal EACH followed by a pack of 12 Krispy Creme donuts each!!!

It cleared the cold anyway. :D:D
Similar.
I regularly use the King's Cross Tandoori to purchase starter, main course, poppadoms, salad, spinach side and naan for my journey north after football.
I sit in a single rear-facing 1st class seat and enjoy a 1st class meal to help the journey time pass (along with a 4pack of Punk IPA)
The only comments from other pax have been comments of envy.
 

greyman42

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Modern freedoms are a green light to thuggish and unthoughtful behaviour among the underclass who then leave smelly food cartons and coffee cups all over the train tables and seats
If you replace
You can't seriously mean that. You sound like a snobbish aristocrat.
By and large he is correct. It is not pleasant getting on a train and having to clean away previous passengers mess before you can sit down. They should put it in a bin or take it with them.
 
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If you replace

By and large he is correct. It is not pleasant getting on a train and having to clean away previous passengers mess before you can sit down. They should put it in a bin or take it with them.

I've honestly never had an issue with that, people aren't as unruly as you make them out to be. At worst I've had to put a half full cup of coffee in the bin (oh the horror, so much effort) :rolleyes:.
 

Phil from Mon

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Surprised no-one has mentioned the hot food offering on TFW’s evening premier service (Gerald) yet. In standard the two most popular choices are curry or chilli, both of which to my mind smell great yet others find disgusting, to the extent of moving away to another table. Great value too.
 

Phil from Mon

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One gathers that a fair number of things are banned in Singapore: though from what's heard about durian, it definitely does not belong on public transport.

Something I heard a while ago (if I didn't imagine hearing it): it's "universally known" that chewing gum is banned in Singapore. But according to the snippet of info which -- I thought anyway -- came my way: one can get chewing gum there, on prescription. Wonderful visions ensued, of every "bent" doctor in Singapore merrily taking bribes from patients to certify them as chewing-gum-addicted, and prescribe accordingly. Made the Singaporeans seem human after all...
Similarly in Pakistan, where alcohol is banned escept for “foreigners” in top hotels, or, I kid you not, you get a certificate from a doctor that you are an alcoholic.
 
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I can't STAND people who eat on trains. In particular, if someone is eating a bag of crisps I get so angry. The rustling, their moist lips enveloping the deep fried potatoe chip - vile. Exactly the reason why trains should have ejection seats.
 

scotrail158713

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I can't STAND people who eat on trains. In particular, if someone is eating a bag of crisps I get so angry. The rustling, their moist lips enveloping the deep fried potatoe chip - vile. Exactly the reason why trains should have ejection seats.
Are you missing a wee emoji at the end of that? :D
 

The_Train

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It's more noisy foods than smelly foods that get to me on trains. As an example, I'm currently crunching my way through an apple and if that was someone else I'd be really annoyed by now :E
 

Calthrop

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Similarly in Pakistan, where alcohol is banned escept for “foreigners” in top hotels, or, I kid you not, you get a certificate from a doctor that you are an alcoholic.

I've heard this before and understand that most Westerners are "registered" alcoholics.

Splendid regulations-circumventing... I treasure a memory of a restaurant meal in Udaipur in neighbouring India about 25 years ago. Then, at all events, the only Indian state with legally-enforced prohibition of alcohol, was Gujarat. Udaipur, in a different state but geographically close to Gujarat, seemed to be somewhat influenced by the latter's teetotalism. To have beer with our meal, we were instructed to ask for "special tea" -- beer, but it came in a metal teapot. Afforded a wonderful feeling of "as though during Prohibition in the USA" -- if only the local rail motive power could have been contemporarily to match !
 

Dr Hoo

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That's true. I'm not autistic but the sound of a packet rustling can be really irritating when I'm tired. It's one of the reasons I sit in the quiet carriage whenever there's one available.
Is the eating of crisps effectively 'prevented' in quiet coaches? I've never noticed a guard doing this (although asking people to refrain from using mobile phones and playing music on speakers happens quite often).
 
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Is the eating of crisps effectively 'prevented' in quiet coaches? I've never noticed a guard doing this (although asking people to refrain from using mobile phones and playing music on speakers happens quite often).

I feel like eating crisps or sweets is discouraged in the quite carriage, although like the other rules regarding it, it isn't enforced well enough.
 
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Mikey C

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I feel like eating food at all is discouraged in the quite carriage, although like the other rules regarding it, it isn't enforced well enough.

Why? If someone eats a sandwich or banana, that's not making any noise.
 
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Why? If someone eats a sandwich or banana, that's not making any noise.

That's true, most of the food I eat on trains is quiet like a sandwich. I was referring mostly to snacks that come in packets that are impossible to open without making noise, I'll amend my previous post to make that clearer.
 

Llanigraham

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That's true. I'm not autistic but the sound of a packet rustling can be really irritating when I'm tired. It's one of the reasons I sit in the quiet carriage whenever there's one available.

Since when has there been a rule that only quiet eating is allowed in the quiet carriage?
 

nlogax

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Whilst slightly off topic, I feel that Kermode & Mayo's Cinema Code of Conduct would be hugely appropriate for quiet carriages.

"The Cinema Code of Conduct consists of the following rules:
  • No Eating anything harder than a soft roll
  • No Slurping
  • No Rustling
  • No Irresponsible Parenting
  • No Hobbies
  • No Talking
  • No Mobile Phone Usage
  • No Kicking of Seats
  • No Arriving Late
  • No Shoe Removal (except where culturally appropriate, such as in Japan)"
In recent years they've informally added a 'no smelly foods' rule to the list. So, back on topic after all.
 
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