A friend & I were recently discussing our eating & imbibing habits while tying flies. Personally, I will almost always have a beer, birch beer, or Vernor’s Ginger Ale, VERY infrequently a coffee & maybe some Combos cheese filled pretzels, Cheez-its, fudge, or beef jerky. I stay away from real greasy or gooey stuff. What’s your preference, or do you refuse to eat or drink at the bench?
Mike
York peppermint patties! I ate them a lot this summer while tying, so now one reminds me of the other.
If I drank beer while tying, I’d be in the gutter. I tie 4-6 hours a day for work and start at 9AM.
Coffee with a scoop of hot chocolate in the morning, a Coke in the afternoon. No food anywhere near the tying bench, ever.
Right now while I’m tying, ya tying, I’m listening/watchig the news while reading this link and I’ve got some IBC Rootbeer and a box of Triscuits.
I drink Diet Pepsi insistently. It can’t be good for me.
I tied up a bunch of flies for the fall steelhead run this year and I would have to say the beverage of choice was SWEET ICED TEA with lemon, the concentrate from Arizona Ice Tea; served up in my favorite tin cup that I got from the Cuyahoga County Fair. Originally it had root beer in it and I noticed how cold it kept my beverage and how long the ice last.
As far as munching goes I really like the pretzel / wool blend. As I was chewing I noticed how the pretzel and wool became one, it was almost like the everlasting pretzel, kinda like gum. And Lays has a new chip out that is salted with sea salt. It went very well with the olive died deer hair, not so much with the natural; the natural deer hair was gamey and gave me the wind. (I know sharing too much)
Oh yea and the Loons Knot Sense with rabbit hair I ate that to get the Sally Hansen’s taste out of my mouth (don’t ask)
Nice, LEHB. I like the subtle interaction of seasonal flavors with marabou and pumpkin pie…or zonker hairs and apple pie…
In all seriousness, though, I never eat while tying. The thought of the chemicals used to kill the bugs and preserveanimal skins is enough to curb my appetite. Occasionally, I’ll have a drink beside me, but even this is rare, as the condensation gets my hands wet.
I used to have a Crown on the rocks while tying but started to notice my flies looked nothing like the pictures of what I was going after so I stopped the Crown on the rocks and went to beer and noticed the same thing that the flies looked nothing like the pictures! started drinking straight coke and dang-it the flies still don’t look like the picture so I think I’m going back to Crown I came up with some of my better patterns 
I like to munch on cheese, crackers, and summer sausage and have found that oils from the cheese and summer sausage make dubbing much eaiser with the synthetic materials plus I think the trout like the flavor of the cheese oils LMAO I did figure out that when using marabou keep your food items high and away from the vice! that stuff floats around and gets into everything and well the taste is not that great. Later,
Kirk
Coffee or Coke. That’s about it. I usually get so into tying that I forget about my drink and either find a warm Coke or a cold coffee sitting close at hand. Almost always have the TV going though. Mostly just for the noise.
Never any food while tying. Not by the turn off of chemicals or anything, but I will get a snack sometimes if I get up for a break, but will finish that before going back to tying. Beverage on the other hand, maybe half the time I’ll have something to drink when tying. Sometimes a beer or lemonade in the summer, maybe a double shot of bourbon to sip between flies in the colder months.
Like Lotech I usually have a cup of coffee that ends up cold. I have the TV on if there is a good baseball game. I can always watch the replay. If no ballgame then old time country music on the computer.
http://worriersanonymous.org/Music/Country/Countrymusic.htm
Tim
Dr. Pepper on the rocks! Sometimes the wife will sneak in with something sweet to eat, or I will grab some dark chocolate M&M’s I keep close. I tie sitting in a recliner, in front of our TV. I’ve got one of those lap desks, and it works out great. There’s always the option of setting stuff down and zzzzzzzzzzzz…
Ohiotuber,
Coffee or tea. Don’t have anything playing in the background, because I won’t be able to here the voices in my head! LOL!!!
Best regards, Dave S.
i’ll have a cup of coffee or something cold and non alcoholic nearby (after years on constantly being drunk, its nice to be sober). 
no cheeze doodles to transfer onto tying materials (although the fish may like the taste!) 
no smoking in the tying room anymore. the smoke transferred to the materials and the fish couldnt kick their nicotine habit! 
Copenhagen, cappuccino and John Coltrane…or maybe the Brute Force Steelband, or Wilson Pickett, or Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, etc.
Music gets my toes and fingers going simultaneously. Miles to go before I fish?
…if you-oo eva, cha-ange yo meye-ind, about tyin, teye-eye-n aaalll those flies,
bringem to me. Bring your sweet fly ties. Bring’em on ho-ome to me-eee.
Don’t have any food or drink at the tying dest. Either of themwould end up on the desk and materials.
This way I don’t have to clean up the mess after being a klutz.
Rick
Since I tie most every evening, I usually have something nearby in the way of refreshment - usually ice-water. I don’t eat at the bench since I’m constantly using my fingers for something and sticky-gooey doesn’t mix with rabbit hair dubbing :lol:. No alcohol. My father was an alcoholic for all of the days that I knew him and it ruined his life along with the lives of our family, so I just didn’t think I wanted to follow that in my own life.
A good Dr. Pepper on the rocks 
hits the spot, but I have a bad habit of spilling my drinls, so I usually stick to ice-water.
Oh, and I do have my desk set up so I can watch TV. I have found that I can’t tie without a little distraction.
Kelly.
Hot coffee if I’m tying in the morning. Fruit flavored ice tea if I’m tying in the afternoon or evening. Seldom any food on the table but I will go for a snack if I get hungry. 8T
An occasional caffein-free diet Pepsi, but no food. TV going in an adjacent room for company, but the screen isn’t in view. Too much distraction for me. It’s tough for me to sit and tie the same pattern for more than a few flies. About the third one, it starts to become a chore, and by the time I’ve done a dozen of the same pattern, I think I’ve done a days work. It isn’t efficient, but I change patterns often. Maybe if I ate and drank and watched the tv, I could stay with them a bit longer. Ya think?
Lemonade or berry juice…like Normand, I used to tie with Bombay Gin martinis, but would wind up in strange places with strange people in strange situations…haven’t found it necessary to imbibe in 16yrs. +…this stuff is killer when tying:
http://www.smokedmeats.com/jerky-beef-jerky.html
PT/TB
That’s my attitude as well.