Food Choices

I have recently become a vegetarian (at the start of this year), and this dietary choice is always the first thing I use to make food choices - is it vegetarian? I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian, or someone who eats eggs and dairy. I have been thinking a lot about these choices as well, for a few reasons. First, there have been a lot of articles recently debating the nutritional value of dairy. Is it necessary? There are statistics that say that a majority of East Asians lack the enzyme that properly breaks down dairy, that it is not meant to be in their diet. I believe that dairy should be eaten, but in limited quantities. My reasoning stems from not really a dietary place, but a religious one. The reason that Hindu's "worship cows" is because they play an intrinsic role in the development of the human life by supplying milk to people after the breast-feeding stage is over. Milk is especially important for young children, and the Ghai-ma (Mother Cow) is revered for her role as a secondary mother to children. When my father was young, for instance, my grandmother couldn't nurse him for very long, so my grandpa bought a cow for the house so that my dad could have enough milk. Dairy is important. Plus, it tastes good!
That being said, I still make some food choices that I don't agree with, because it is so ingrained in my lifestyle to eat those foods. The worst, for me, is the late night drunken 555 deals from Domino's. Late night food in general is where I cave in to desires for highly processed, god-knows-whats-in-this foods like frozen pizza, taquitos, and chips. I try pretty hard to be good during the day, but at night (usually after a few drinks), it is so easy to eat these foods that are environmentally unethical. I live about 2 blocks from the Domino's in Tenleytown, and the 7-11 is literally in my backyard, so convenience is also a problem. I have been doing better recently. For instance, I haven't gotten anything from 7-11 recently except for a bag of chips, and haven't ordered 555 deal pizzas from Domino's all semester. Part of this may be because I am a vegetarian, but a lot of it has to do with my consciousness from being in Simon's food politics class last semester.
In the past few days, the least environmentally friendly food choice I've made is eating General Tso's Tofu from Mr. Chen's Organic Chinese Restaurant. Is it really organic? Who knows? The reason I think this is the worst food choice I've made is because of the deforestation that is being done in the Amazon to support an ever-growing demand for soy in the U.S. for things like tofu. The deforestation is horrible, particularly in the most biologically diverse place in the entire western hemisphere. The fact that soy isn't grown locally also means that more corn is being planted in the U.S. to support our processed food needs and to support our biofuels innovation, which is even more carbon-intensive than gasoline can be. This little order of tofu made me think greatly about the effects of my food choices, and how actions I take can help to make a difference. People don't often think that they can take a stance against things, but its empowering to be able to say that I'm a vegetarian because I am against the inhumane slaughter of animals in farm factories, or that supporting meat eating takes up 4-6 more times land than vegetables. I want to learn a lot more about food so that I can make more choices that can effect change in others and the food system.