WASHINGTON –
Digital librarian Rosie Grant is finding inspiration through a very unusual hobby: recipes for cupcakes from gravestones in cemeteries across America.
“Death is a taboo subject,” she said on a video call with the CTV National News Washington Bureau Correspondent. “It’s scary to think about our own deaths, but there’s this beautiful act of man who once was.”
Over the past year, Grant has baked cookies, pies, meatloaf, or any other recipe she finds engraved on her tombstone and shares it on her popular TikTok account, which goes by the name. @ghostlyarchive. It was originally started as a school project while studying library science at the University of Maryland. Many of her videos have gone viral, garnering millions of views.
“Food has an amazing connection to these memories, these wonderful times,” she said.
Over the past year, Grant has been looking for tombstones with recipes engraved on them. A discovery takes her to Logan, Utah, where Kay Andrews’ beloved, famous grandmother is engraved on a giant plaque.
Her viral video caught the attention of Andrews’ daughter, Janice. She told CTV News that her mother often outraged the community before her death three years ago at the age of 97. And her late mother wanted to share her recipe as a permanent reminder of her generosity and sense of humour.
Janice Andrews from her home in Syracuse, Utah said: “She loves chocolate, and adds her late mother would laugh at her online fame.
“Nobody puts recipes on god beer unless they’re pretty funny,” she said.
To date, Grant has made more than 11 tombstone recipes. She ends each TikTok with “another recipe to die for”.
“I wish I could throw a dinner party with all of them,” she said.
