Being pregnant is uncomfortable enough, but being pregnant well past your due date is just miserable. A pregnant woman in that kind of discomfort will do just about anything to kick start labor, and thanks to the “Maternity Salad” at Caioti Café in Los Angeles, jump starting labor is as easy as eating lunch!
For the past 30 years the café has been serving past-due pregnant women this secret ingredient salad to induce labor ... and it’s got such a reputation that women have started mail ordering the dressing from across the country.
Owner Carrie LaDou says the actual recipe and ingredients are a family secret, but the basics are romaine lettuce, watercress, walnuts and pasteurized gorgonzola cheese. LaDou explained, "Pregnant women come in every day − we have between five and 20 a day − they're past due and they want to get the baby out. We're not saying it's the dressing − we don't know what it is. So, I always tell them, 'If you're here to have a baby, you need to have the salad as it's meant to be.'"
The Caioti Café keeps a monthly chalkboard of salad babies that have been welcomed into the world thanks to a jump start from their special salad, and many of those babies come in as adults to visit the place that is at least a little bit responsible for the beginning of their life journey.
(Today)