In New York, a state lawmaker has proposed a ban on eating food in the New York City subway system. This may or may not be a good idea. I have no opinion, though years of riding on the Metro system in Washington, D.C., have convinced me that it’s possible to keep stations and cars fairly clean and that no-food rules probably help.
At any rate, a NYT op-ed writer chimes in with this helpful point of view, which will help everybody keep their emotions in check:
Worse, the claim that noshing leads to litter and filth harks back to racial and class stereotypes from the Victorian era.
Translation: Trying to keep the subway tidy is offensive to blacks, Hispanics, etc.