food

Your last-minute Valentine's Day reservation could save a stranger's life.

Still haven’t made a dinner booking for Valentine’s Day?

This might sound like an odd thing to say, but good for you.

Thanks to your last-minute desperation, you could end up changing the lives of some of the 795 million people around the world currently experiencing chronic hunger.

Your romantic date could help end hunger. (iStock)

See, The Hunger Project has gone ahead and made dinner reservations at some of Australia's best restaurants on February 14, and they're offering you the chance to secure one for yourself.

Dubbed 'A Table to End Hunger', the fundraising and awareness initiative will allow people to bid for dinner for two at the likes of Quay, Bennelong and Momofuku Seibo, with all proceeds going toward the organisation's efforts to end global hunger by 2030.

THP's head of marketing and fundraising, Melissa Bergin, told Mamamia more than 60 restaurants have generously signed on to the cause, with bidding to open tomorrow, January 23.

"A lot of these restaurants are booked out way in advance - particularly for Valentine's Day," she said, "So it's a great opportunity for people to get a table."

table to end hunger
The food Sydney's Cho Cho San, just one of the many restaurants you can bid for. Image: Supplied.
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By solving your own small, first-world problem, you're also helping The Hunger Project's unique approach to solving a much bigger one.

Rather than adhering to the traditional aid model of handouts and donations, the organisation aims break the poverty cycle via grassroots, women-centric strategies designed to help communities in the developing world become self-reliant.

In Africa alone, they've reached 1.8 million people with the creation of 123 "epicentres" - community hubs that house programs for health, education, food security and economic development.

Alongside those, THP delivers Vision, Commitment, Action workshops that educate and empower villagers to transform their lives.

"A big part of the work we do is shift that mindset to one of hope and optimism so that they can be the authors of their own life and [learn] that they have the power themselves to make change, that they don't have to wait for handouts," Bergin.

"It's amazing to see what they're able to achieve once they're empowered to do so."

table to end hunger
The Hunger Project works with village partners in countries like Ethiopia. Image: Supplied/Johannes Ode.
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A bid of $500, for example, would allow 400 mothers to be educated and trained on how to feed their children nutritious, local food and help break the cycle of malnutrition.

In 2016, a Melbourne couple forked out ten times that for a table at Noma, a Sydney-based pop-up version of the award-winning Danish restaurant. And that didn't include their bill.

This time around, a successful bid will earn you the whole package: a table for two, a three-course meal (or set menu) and a bottle of wine. Some venues are even throwing in extras, such as accommodation.

So go on, bid for a table and help empower others to put food on theirs.

Bidding opens January 23. For more information, see the A Table to End Hunger website.