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."


Gravestone Recipes

Spritz Cookies
Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson: 26 Nov 1921 - 10 Jun 2009 (aged 87)
Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, New York

Fudge


Martha Kathryn "Kay" Kirkham Andrews: 30 Aug 1922 - 17 Dec 2019 (aged 97)"
Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Utah, USA

Christmas Cookies
Maxine Menster: 5 Aug 1926 - 26 Sep 1994 (aged 68)
Cascade Community Cemetery, Cascade, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA

No bake cookies
Bonnie June Rainey Johnson 30 Jun 1935-May 2007 (aged 71)
Nome City Cemetery Nome, Alaska, USA

Date and Nut Bread
Constance G. Galberd 11 June 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 24 Sep 1914 - 1 Jul 2005 (aged 90)

Snickerdoodle Cookies
Annabell Gunderson: 19 Sep 1920- 14 Dec 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: 11 Dec 1921- Dec. 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: 5 Mar 1934 - 3 Jun 2017 (aged 83). At a young age, she learned to

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 (Nov 4, 1956-August 28, 2014). Age 57.

Chocolate Mint Brownies
Maple Grove Cemetery, Wichita, Kansas,
John Rodda 1941-Jan 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). 31 Mar 1924 - 16 May 2011

Chicken Soup
Valerie Vorpe, Buffalo NY

Peanut Butter Cookies
Posted by Twitter user on Stephen King’s Tweet
Possibly in Raymond, Maine

Meatloaf
Beverly L. Lofland (July 22, 1932-March 10, 2006) Age 73.
Comal Cemetery in New Braunfels, Texas

Irish Coffee
St. Mary's Cemetery Oakland, Alameda County, California, USA
Joseph Alphonsus Sheridan