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- THE WEEK, Page 36SOCIETYThe Frugal Gourmet
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- A controversial video teaches the homeless what to eat on the
- streets
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- In the age of instant information, the hard facts on
- everything from coping with troubled toddlers to touring Nepal
- are just a video-club membership away. But in Orange County,
- Calif., the how-to tape has gone beyond providing a sort of
- microwave education for the perpetually preoccupied. Last week
- former nurse Linda Dunlap ran into both praise and scorn for a
- video she produced to teach homeless men and women how to
- scavenge the trash for contaminant-free food. Staged in a talk-
- show format, the tape is five parts useless banter and one part
- helpful instruction. Warnings include avoiding discarded dairy
- products and punctured fruits. Dunlap has had well in excess of
- 100 requests for the video from shelters and aid groups
- worldwide.
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- Conceptually, a how-to video for the homeless smacks of a
- Saturday Night Live sketch gone horribly tasteless. Only those
- fortunate enough to wander into a VCR-equipped shelter will ever
- view the tape. Moreover, advocates for the homeless argue that
- the video signals a dangerous complacency in tackling the
- issues of hunger and poverty. But to her critics Dunlap has one
- reply: "Get real!" The video, she insists, acknowledges a
- serious public health issue and aims to save lives.
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