This Restaurant Is Offering a Salad to Overdue Moms That Is Believed to Help Induce Labor

As any expecting mama close to or past her due date will tell you, toward the end of a pregnancy, things start to get a little desperate.

Perhaps that's why a salad served in one Los Angeles restaurant has gained such notoriety. The mysterious "Maternity salad" started out as something they gave to local ladies who were overdue. The women ate the salad in hopes that it would kick-star their labor, according to TODAY.

Carson Daly's wife Siri turned to the salad in hopes of kickstarting not one, but two pregnancies with their daughters Etta and London.

The first time she tried the salad, she did start experiencing minor contractions just a few hours later, with little Etta entering the world just two days later.

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"I did start experiencing mild contractions within a few hours of eating it, and Etta was born two days later," said Siri , adding that her doctor had also stripped her membranes — a method used to try to start labor — right before she ate the salad, so that maaay have had something to do with it.

"The salad itself was tasty but what I really remember was the dressing," said Daly. "It had a very strong flavor — like perhaps it was laced with caster oil, or Pitocin."

They were unsure enough of the cause of labor that when it came time for baby London to be born, Daly ordered in the dressing and Siri drank it straight from the bottle.

"She was induced, so I'm not sure if it worked, but as any pregnant woman will tell you, it's worth trying anything," said Daly.

The salad is available at Caioti Pizza Cafe in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, and has been serving the salad to past-due mothers for nearly 30 years.

"It has been 28 years of this," Carrie LaDou, the owner, told TODAY. "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."

"It's very simple, and a lot of people are unfamiliar with watercress, which is somewhat bitter," said LaDou, explaining that often, women ask to modify the salad and leave certain ingredients out.

"We're not saying it's the dressing — we don't know what it is," said LaDou. "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 salad has become so popular that when LaDou was pregnant her OBGYN told her to eat the salad unaware she was the owner of the restaurant from which it came. LaDou even keeps track of the month's "Salad Babies" on a chalkboard at the restaurant.

So, here's to healthy babies and the salads that (might) help us get them into this world faster!

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