My friend Jillana was one of four pregnant women who went to Cafe Boost last week looking for relief. She was sick of being pregnant. She’d been carrying twins for nine months, her ankles were swollen, her back hurt, she had indigestion, and she frequently had to endure the surprise attacks of eight fetal limbs on her lungs, pubic bone, and hips. She was eager, as she put it, to get the party out of her stomach. She also feared that if labor didn’t start soon, her doctors would induce it chemically.
The salad–officially called Fancy Mixed Greens, unofficially called the labor salad–consists of a mesclun mix of seven greens, Gorgonzola cheese, plum tomatoes, toasted walnuts, and a lemon-balsamic vinaigrette. It’s rumored to naturally induce labor within 24 hours. “I think it might be the combination of the cheese and the balsamic vinegar,” says Madeline Khan-Roberts, who owns the Andersonville cafe with her husband, Steven.
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Cassidy began proselytizing. “I’ve been telling people that when you hit the wall, go to Boost,” she says. That’s what she told Jillana when they met at a twins breast-feeding group. Others must also be spreading the word–more pregnant women than ever are coming to Boost for the salad.
Khan-Roberts herself was one of them. “My son was 11 days late, and boy, I ate that salad,” she says. Jillana, too, was sorely disappointed. A week after she’d eaten it, she was still waiting uncomfortably for her twins.
