Originally Posted by Cap'n Benj

It’s not reasonable to leave it off while you nurse a glass of wine or bowl of nuts for an hour

While eating an actual meal is obviously a very different thing

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

I'd only add to to KARFA's reply, that from discussing this (in a socially distant way of course) with BA crew, some cabin crew are getting fed up with people who seemingly take a very long time to consume their food and / or drink, when most passengers are very conscientious in this area. And other passengers complain about it too. I think the word from the top is that cabin crew won't get into trouble if they take a strong line on the issue, so if there is a judgement call that goes toward zealousness, then that would be better than falling on the side of pragmatism. In this scenario I'd say "oops sorry" and take the Chris Wallace advice, it is not worth escalating, I feel.