is the impact on your local community of eating out. Most Chinese restaurants and outside of fast-food places, restaurants in general are small businesses that hire local people. Assuming you don't want to eat at the same place every day, a lot more Americans will be working if you eat out regularly than if you just go to the market once a month for food, which will help your community's local tax base, as well as giving your fellow citizens jobs.

If your article (I believe) shows that there isn't a great ecological savings to cook at home, then in balance it's probably better for your community to eat out - although possibly much harder on your pocket book.