Update 8 July 2020:
The auction raised an amazing £225,000 for Action Against Hunger and Hospitality Action. That's enough both to pay bills for more than 400 vulnerable hospitality families in the UK at risk of extreme poverty and homelessness as a result of Covid-19 as well as supporting vulnerable children facing food insecurity and malnutrition around the world. It's a wonderful result and the auction looks set to take place every year now.
In past years we've had some pretty special auctions to support Action Against Hunger and other charities - both online and off. This year, obviously everything is online, with the main food and drink-related event being Today's Special, taking place this week.
Supporting both Action Against Hunger and Hospitality Action, there are some pretty amazing lots on offer, including, from the online auction:
- A private masterclass on how to mane the Noma burger
- Join Giles Coren, Tom Parker Bowles and Grace Dent while they review a restaurant
- A personal BBQ masterclass by Richard Turner and Robin GIll at Birch
- ‘Greatest Hits’ Private Dinner at Quality Chop House. QCH's Shaun Searly will be cooking, serving and telling the story behind each dish.
- ASAP Pizza party (from the people behind Lyle's) with a masterclass from ‘Baddest Baker in Brooklyn’ Pam Yung
- Sponsor a Mangalitsa from Coombeshead Farm - from piglet to plate, includes a night’s stay to meet your pig and when the time comes Tom sends you a box of ham, pate, rillette, lardo etc made from its pork.
- An astonishing sounding tiered raised-pie ‘Wedding cake’ from Calum Franklin paired with a dozen bottles of French 75 from Three Sheets. If you've had to postpone your wedding this year, this will be the ultimate centrepiece when it's back on
- Free food for a year from Flat Iron, Blacklock, Pho, Hache Burgers
- Get your own burger on the menu at Hache
- 2 personal face-shaped jelly moulds from Bompass & Parr - yes, you can eat your own face
- A Virtual Dinner Date with Gizzi Erskine…
- Baking, Pastry & Desserts ‘PhD’ – 4 separate one-day in-person masterclass sessions with 4 of the best pastry chefs in the country
- A mix of in-person and on Zoom masterclasses with chefs like Shuko Oda from Koya, Stevie Parle, Sabrina Ghayour - and Ken Hom!
- The great Nuno Mendes cooking in your home
That's just the tiniest taste of what's on offer - you can browse all the lots here and bidding is ongoing until Friday.
And from the live auction, there's even more:
- Angela Hartnett helping you create a summer garden party
- Both Jason Atherton AND Claude Bosi cooking in your home
- James Cochran going anywhere in the UK to cook his jerk-spiced fried chicken for 50 people, with Forest Road Brewery’s ‘Mobile Response Unit’ draught beer van in tow
- Ikoyi’s Hassan-Odukale and Jeremy Chan cooking a meal for 8 in your home
- "Become Hawksmoor" - a day training at Hawksmoor Borough, followed by a sixteen-person feast cooked for you by Executive Chef Matt Brown
- ‘The Lot of St. JOHN’ - which includes lunch or dinner with Fergus and Trevor, a class, a case of wine and more...
You can see all the live lots here. They will be auctioned online in a live Zoom show on Wednesday 1 July - compered by Andi Oliver, Oliver Peyton and Tom Allen. Book your spot for that here.
We'd certainly urge you to look through the lots - there are some that you'll never see again, so it's well worth a bid or two.
More about Today's Special
When does bidding start? The online auction is live now until 3 July, the live auction is from 8pm 1 July.
See the lots: View the online auction lots and the live auction lots.
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @_todays.special.
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