Aspiring archivist Rosie Grant has been uncovering lost recipes and baking them back to life on TikTok! We here at Ripley's even got the opportunity to sit down and ask her a few questions!
Like many, Rosie picked up baking during the COVID-19 lockdown, but unlike others, she also began studying cemeteries.
Taking daily walks through her local graveyard, she began reading the headstones as she passed. Realizing people include way more than names and dates, she decided to merge her newfound hobbies into one.
Since then, Rosie has documented herself traveling across the U.S. on a hunt for new recipes from the departed, gaining millions of views along the way. Ripley’s caught up with Rosie to learn more about her curious cooking.
Q: What was the first gravestone recipe you made?
A: The first grave I learned about was that of Naomi Miller-Dawson in Brooklyn, New York. It’s carved to be a beautiful open book with the ingredients for a spritz cookie recipe. There aren’t instructions on it, so I made it like a sugar cookie, mixing everything together and baking it in small circular shapes.
After I posted on TikTok, a lot of people commented on how their own families made spritz cookies, and I learned I needed a cookie press to properly make them. I began using a press and was surprised how well the recipe worked, so I brought a plate of them to Naomi’s grave with my mom. We had a cookie in her honor, and that started the journey of visiting these graves in person.
Q: Why do you think people put recipes on their gravestones?
A: Food is this beautiful memory tool that connects us better than just a name and date. When I think of my own grandmothers, I also think about their cooking and the meals we had together. I can still taste the yellow cake with chocolate icing my Grandma Kay used to make for my family’s birthdays. We all have that one family recipe that connects us, and so I think sharing a recipe on a gravestone is a way to continue to connect over food.
Q: What do you like about cemeteries?
A: I think cemeteries are peaceful, though I only started visiting them regularly because I interned at a Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. After the internship, I started seeing cemeteries as lively places, like outdoor museums that rely on their local communities to be continuously cared for and preserved.
Q: What recipe would you put on your gravestone?
A: There are so many I love! I know I’d want a savory recipe, and I think it’s a tie between a simple mac ’n’ cheese recipe or a clam pasta that I love to make for dinner parties.
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