A woman who follows recipes she'd found engraved on gravestones says the food she's rustled up is "to die for".
Rosie Grant, 33, has so far whipped up 23 recipes and counting - including chocolate brownies, date and nut bread, and chicken soup and says she already has plans for a clam pasta recipe to be etched at the site of her final resting place.
The idea first came to Rosie after she noticed a spritz cookie recipe carved onto a woman's headstone while she was interning at Green Wood cemetery, New York, US, back in August 2021.
The librarian and communication manager baked a batch of the sweet treats, which she ate beside the woman's grave, sharing a final meal with the deceased.
She has since gone on to sample a range of tasty treats recommended from beyond the grave– from scrumptious desserts such as fudge, snickerdoodle cookies, blueberry pies, to savoury home comforts such as chicken soup and cheese dip.
Rosie, from Hollywood, Los Angeles, US, explained: "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 finding the spritz cookie, Rosie discovered similar foodie gravesites by searching online for local stories. Families who've heard about her journey have since gotten in touch with her to share their own loved ones' gravestone recipes.
Out of the 23 gravestones she's found, Rosie has so far visited six, and always tried to take the food with her to eat at the gravesite.
So far, she's visited graves with recipes for spritz cookie, fudge, date and nut bread, snickerdoodle cookies, and blueberry pie recipes.
Rosie revealed: "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 recipes - a snickerdoodle cookie - can be found on the gravestone of a woman named Annabell Gunderson in California. This one hold a particular place in her heart as her mum used to make them for her when she was a child.
She's also recently discovered a peanut butter cookie recipe at a graveyard in Maine, after it was retweeted by famous horror writer Stephen King.
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.
After sharing her finds on TikTok, Rosie says her followers have offered plenty of helpful culinary tips. Her journey has also started up a conversation with her own family about what recipes they’d have on their headstones.
She continued: "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."
Gravestone Recipes
Spritz Cookies
Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson: November 26, 1921 - June 10, 2009 (aged 87)
Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, New York.
Fudge
Martha Kathryn 'Kay' Kirkham Andrews: August 30, 1922 - December 17, 2019 (aged 97)
Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Utah, USA
Christmas Cookies
Maxine Menster: August 5, 1926 - September 26, 1994 (aged 68)
Cascade Community Cemetery, Cascade, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA
No bake cookies
Bonnie June Rainey Johnson June 30 1935 - May 2007 (aged 71)
Nome City Cemetery Nome, Alaska, USA
Date and Nut Bread
Constance G. Galberd June 11 1928 - September 25, 2008 (age 80)
Highlands in Highland Mills, New York
Ida's Nut Rolls Grave
Ida Kleinman
Rehovot Cemetery Rehovot, Israel
Yeast Cake / 'Yankele's Yeast Cake'
Yankele Topper // Yankele Tofor // Yankele Topur (listed both ways online)
Location: Israel (need additional coordinates)
O'Neal's Peach Cobbler
New Ebenezer Cemetery in Castor, Louisiana
O'Neal Bogan Watson September 24, 1914 - July 1, 2005 (aged 90)
Snickerdoodle Cookies
Annabell Gunderson: September 19, 1920- December 14, 2007 (aged 87)
Willits Cemetery, Mendocino County, California, USA
Blueberry pie
H Margaret Rees Davis: July 4, 1918-November 6, 2004 (86 years)
Mountain View Memorial Park. Lakewood, WA
Cheese Dip
Debra Ann Nelson: April 6, 1964 - March 8, 2021
Dow City Cemetery, Dow City, Crawford County, Iowa, USA
Heavenly Daze Ice cream
Marian S. Montfort: December 11, 1921 - December 22, 2007 (age 86)
Robertson Cemetery
Neal Sugar Cookies
Peggy Neal, Garden of Memories Cemetery in Charleston, Arkansas
Shearer Sugar Cookies
Magness Cemetery, Arkansas
Fleda Jane Shearer: March 5, 1934 - June 3, 2017 (aged 83).
Christine’s Carrot Cake
Ferndale Cemetery, Ferndale CA
Christine W Hammill. "Possibly still alive (age 69)? Husband Richard Hammill. The grave is towards the right side of the cemetery, not too high up."
Kim's Carrot Cake
Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Kimette Lee Decota November 4, 1956 - August 28, 2014 (age 57).
Chocolate Mint Brownies
Maple Grove Cemetery, Wichita, Kansas,
John Rodda 1941 - January 18, 2019 (aged 77).
Dr. Death's Ranch
Marty Lee Woolf February 16, 1978 - August 1 2022. "Funeral in Spokane - possibly buried at Riverside Memorial Park Memorials"
Guava Cobbler
Frierson-Hendry Cemetery, For Myers Florida Grave of Julia Bell (JB), Kelley Pate (age 87). March 31, 1924 - May 16, 2011
Chicken Soup
Valerie Vorpe, Buffalo NY
Peanut Butter Cookies
Posted by Twitter user, retweeeted by Stephen King
Possibly in Raymond, Maine
Meatloaf
Beverly L. Lofland (July 22, 1932 - March 10, 2006) Age 73.
Comal Cemetery, New Braunfels, Texas
Irish Coffee
St. Mary's Cemetery, Oakland, Alameda County, California, USA
Joseph Alphonsus Sheridan
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