Have you ever seen a recipe on a gravestone? Rosie Grant, who goes by @ghostlyarchive on Instagram and TikTok, put together an amazing book of recipes that are carved on gravestones.
To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes started as a project for a class and turned into a published collection of recipes from different gravestones across America. Rosie personally traveled to each of these gravestones, made each of the recipes, and met with the families of the dead (and in some cases, the living) who have the recipes on their gravestones to learn more about the people behind the food.
Some online reviews express displeasure in the lack of variety of recipes in the book. But the recipes that Rosie included, which includes 3 chocolate chip cookie recipes, 2 snickerdoodle recipes, and 2 no-bake cookie recipes, are the ones carved in stone. These are the recipes that are so special and sentimental to the individuals who chose them that a simple recipe card wasn’t good enough.
There are savory recipes etched in stone too, but the overwhelming majority are sweet treats. That’s just fine with me!
This book also contains well-written and heartfelt stories, carefully collected by Rosie personally. I can confidently say that this is the first cookbook to ever make me cry. The story that accompanies Sharon’s French Silk Pie did it for me, though there are many other stories that are just as touching.
There’s at least one gravestone recipe here in Wichita at Maple Grove Cemetery. It’s not exactly on a gravestone, but it’s on a tile that’s been placed on the grave of John Rodda, who died in 2019. John spent 54 years as an embalmer and funeral director for Cochran Mortuary.
We visited John by accident on Christmas Day in 2022. We’d been by his grave many times, but for some reason it stood out that day. I noticed the recipe and remembered Rosie’s quest to find more. I took these photos to share with her.
We know from John’s obituary that he loved music, Mickey Mouse, his cats, and food. He collected cookbooks and loved baking, and there is a recipe for mint chocolate brownies on his grave. Maybe John enjoyed Christmas, and all the treats that came with it, and that’s why we were drawn to him that day.
Rosie came to Wichita to visit John, and she also made the brownies that he must have loved. I think John would be happy knowing people are making this treat in his honor and making a connection with him through food. His family respectfully declined to be included in Rosie’s book.
Additional Resources
Goodreads: To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes
Food & Wine: This Cookbook Resurrects Recipes From America’s Cemeteries
The Mercury News: Cooking with the dead: ‘To Die For’ tries out recipes etched on tombstones
Eater: A New Cookbook Compiles Recipes From Gravestones Around the World
Axios: New cookbook author behind the viral rise of gravestone recipes
Wisconsin Public Radio: Gravestone recipes provide unique way for Midwesterners to be remembered
Los Angeles Times: These tombstone recipes celebrate life from beyond the grave
Jefferson Public Radio: Archivist publishes collection of recipes from beyond the grave
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