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If you’re pregnant and feel like it’s about time you gave birth, pop over to Hawthorne’s and have ‘The Inducer’.
The somewhat scarily nicknamed pizza has a growing reputation for sending expectant women into labour.
It’s long been acknowledged that spicy food is associated with helping overdue mums give birth. Many have traditionally opted for a curry.
But The Inducer, a Buffalo Wing Pizza sold at Hawthorne’s New York Pizza and Bar in Charlotte, North Carolina, is quickly gaining status for being hugely effective.
The pizza is on the restaurant’s special menu. It features “medium-hot Buffalo sauce with chicken and mozzarella cheese”. So don’t tell an Italian if you’re going to have one. Chicken being one of Italy’s Culinary Sins, of course.
According to locals, the dish has sent multiple women into labour. Charlotte Five spoke to three women who claim they all gave birth after tucking in. Or even during.
The most recent is Henley Schmiedel. She was “just done with her pregnancy,” so her girlfriends urged her to try The Inducer. She did, and, within hours, she was rushing to hospital. Henley’s story has somewhat cemented the pizza in pregnancy folklore.
The pizza saw its first glimmer of a wider trend with Ali Aldrich, who gave birth after dining at Hawthorne’s in 2010. Then came Kristin Kogan, who said that her waters broke after just a slice.
Restaurant owner Michael Adams said: “I think it’s amazing. When the first person posted that our Buffalo Wing Pizza induced their labour, several new mums followed up to say the same thing.
“I bet my wife wished she had known about the inducing pizza when she had our two kids at 9lbs plus.”
The NHS says that there are no scientifically proven ways of triggering labour. But there’s no harm in ordering a spicy pizza.