Walking fed leave a bitter taste

THERE is a very simple rule when it comes to eating in public: you don't.

130706 wap manners

THERE is a very simple rule when it comes to eating in public: you don't.

Now, obviously a restaurant is a public space, so on one level the rule doesn't make sense, but what I'm really talking about here is the business of walking down a CBD street at lunchtime while eating sushi with chopsticks (and, yes, I have actually seen someone do that). Not only is that unsightly, it's also dangerous.

Then there are the sandwich shovellers, walking and eating a large sandwich with a smorgasbord of fillings threatening to fall out. Or worse: eating while talking on their mobile. Not only do unsuspecting members of the public have to look at this unsightly mess, but the poor person at the other end of the phone is listening to someone who is talking with their mouth full. Not everyone has the time to sit down and eat their lunch in private. But being busy shouldn't be an excuse for bad behaviour. We're all busy.

If we just threw out age-old conventions about manners and etiquette, where would we be? Good manners such as the ones around eating are what separate us from wild animals.

Judging by the people I see eating and walking at the same time, I'm guessing there are those reading this thinking (a) this guy has issues with food or (b) this doesn't apply to them because they're actually really good at multi-tasking. Let me break it to you gently: you're probably not. It's more likely you're actually doing several things poorly, and that can be somewhat unappetising for passers-by to witness.

In researching my book on etiquette in 2005, I consumed dozens of historical texts on the subject to try and come up with a modern approach to the issue. If I could summarise everything I have learned about the rituals of consuming food in one sentence, I would say that they are almost always about making the experience of communal dining pleasant for one's fellow diners. The rule about chewing with your mouth closed, for example, is so others at the dinner table don't have to witness the beginnings of the digestive system (and, as an added bonus, it prevents food from falling out).

Which brings me back to roaming the streets while eating. I like to defer to the Japanese, who have very strict rules when it comes to eating in the street. In Japan, as many tourist guides will tell you, eating while walking is deeply frowned upon. About the only thing permissible to eat while walking in Japan is ice cream, for fairly obvious reasons.

Then there's the Italian approach: in Rome, the city recently deployed what are affectionately known as "the sandwich police". The idea is to stop people picnicking on public monuments such as the Spanish Steps or the Colosseum, and the uniformed officers have the power to issue fines from €25 to €500 ($35-$715).

A tweaked version of this in our cities could be a nifty little revenue raiser.