Reviewed by Robin Remaley
TO DIE FOR:
A Cookbook of
Gravestone Recipes
Rosie Grant
Harper Collins
156 pages
An inspiring collection of recipes preserved on gravestones, with fascinating interviews from the families, celebrating the beloved food legacies of their dearly departed.
“You’ll get it over my dead body!” Mostly heard now in casual conversation, taking one’s secret to the grave has a new meaning, thanks to Rosie Grant’s delightfully original cookbook. This book is chocked with family secrets taken literally to the grave. In this case, cherished family recipes from the deceased are etched onto their grave markers.
For so many, food is a touching, nostalgic thing that brings us together. So much so that some families choose to remember their loved ones through the dishes they made and the food that brought comfort to those around them by immortalizing their recipes on their gravestones.
Rosie Grant, the creator behind @GhostlyArchive, has been searching out and documenting this interesting phenomenon. In To Die For, Rosie collects forty recipes she’s found across the globe (including Arkansas, New Orleans, and Florida), carved into headstones or associated with a grave that has a story to share. Each recipe is accompanied by an interview with the remaining family, plus photography of the food, the gravestone, and any memorabilia the family wanted to share.
Recipes include:
Spritz Cookies
Homemade Fudge
Chicken Soup
French Silk Pie
Guava Cobbler
…and more!
Thoughtfully and respectfully explored, Rosie has documented this connection between food, legacy, and family, remembering the deceased through the recipes they most loved, and giving their families a platform to share their loved one’s story and cherished dish with the world.
Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson’s gravestone bearing her spritz cookie recipe was the inspiration for To Die For. The headstone is shaped like an open book. Grant tried the recipe and posted about the process of recreating it. The response was overwhelming.
Ms. Grant draws upon her internship at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and from an assignment for a graduate level Information Science class. For the class she launched the @GhostlyArchive TikTok. The topic? “Something you care about.” –Robin Remaley
