If you’ve ever eaten a big slice of watermelon – not one of those little salad bar wedges – you know exactly what Enrico Caruso was talking about in the quote above. A nice-sized piece of watermelon really is a meal, a drink and a facial cleanser, all in one delicious snack.
I did a little research into Caruso’s quote, and it appears the Italian tenor wasn’t the first to make such an astute observation about our favorite fruit. French poet and novelist Anatole France wrote in his 1881 book, “The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard,” that “for three centimes I can eat, drink, and wash my face, all by the means of one of those slices of water-melon you display there on a little table.”
I’m not sure who Sylvestre Bonnard is, or what crime he committed, but he’d be wise to buy a bunch of those “water-melon” slices – three centimes is a pretty good deal.