Why use ‘virtual’ for class properties in Entity Framework model definitions?

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In the following blog: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/16/code-first-development-with-entity-framework-4.aspx

The blog contains the following code sample:

public class Dinner
{
   public int DinnerID { get; set; }
   public string Title { get; set; }
   public DateTime EventDate { get; set; }
   public string Address { get; set; }
   public string HostedBy { get; set; }
   public virtual ICollection<RSVP> RSVPs { get; set; }
}

public class RSVP
{
   public int RsvpID { get; set; }
   public int DinnerID { get; set; }
   public string AttendeeEmail { get; set; }
   public virtual Dinner Dinner { get; set; }
}

What is the purpose of using virtual when defining a property in a class? What effect does it have?

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