A woman visits graveyards and makes the recipes etched on gravestones to honour the dead - and says the food is "to die for". Rosie Grant, 33, has concocted 23 recipes strangers have left on their headstones - including chocolate brownies, date and nut bread and chicken soup.
She has even decided she would like a clam pasta meal on her gravestone when she passes away. The idea to cook and share a last meal with those who have passed away came when she spotted a spritz cookie recipe carved onto a woman’s headstone.
Rosie was interning at Green Wood cemetery, New York, US, in August 2021 when she spotted the recipe and thought it would be nice to bake the cookies, before sitting at graveside to enjoy them. She made a batch of 12 and says they were "to die for".
After that, Rosie decided to continue looking for other gravestones with recipes on. Now she has tasted 23 different treats from beyond the grave– including fudge, snickerdoodle cookies, blueberry pies and some savoury meals such as chicken soup and a cheese dip.
Rosie, a librarian and communication manager, from Hollywood, Los Angeles, US, said: “I saw a grave spritz cookie and I thought ‘I’m curious to see how this cookie tastes.' “So, I made it.
“Now I’ve made it so much. I got a cookie press to make it properly. Cemeteries are such beautiful spaces. I was uncomfortable about death.
“But for me the gravestone recipes are for the living.” After stumbling across the spritz cookie, Rosie tracked down other similar gravestones after searching local stories online. Since sharing her journey, families have got in touch with her to tell her about their relatives' gravestone recipes.
Rosie has visited six of the 23 gravestones she has found – and tries to make and take the meal with her when she goes. She has visited the graves of the spritz cookie, fudge, date and nut bread, snickerdoodle cookies and blueberry pie recipes.
She said: “I’d love to visit them all. I’d love to cook with some of the families.
"I cooked with the family of the spritz cookie – Naomi Dawson. I love hearing them talking about her.
“She used to use a tree cookie press to make the cookies.” One of Rosie’s favourite recipe’s is on the gravestone of Annabell Gunderson in California – a snickerdoodle cookie.
She said: “My mum made them when I was a kid.” Rosie has been sharing her finds on TikTok and said the followers give her tips and advice on how each is meant to be made.
She recently found a peanut butter cookie recipe on a headstone in Maine – after author Stephen King retweeted it. Rosie said: “There is no name. It’s detective work to find out exactly where it is. In July I’m going to visit an ice cream recipe in Maine so hopefully I can find the cookie one too.”
Rosie’s gravestone recipes have sparked a conversation with her own family about what they’d like on their headstones. She said: “Food is such an important part of my relationship with family.
“Every gathering has food at it. Clam pasta – I think I’ll put on mine. So, they could think of the memory of us cooking it together.”
