Woman bakes 'gravestone recipes' with each deceased’s relatives, changes the flavor of grief

Grief often lingers in the small rituals that connect us to the ones we've lost — sharing their stories, returning to the places they loved, or cooking meals curated by them. In 2024, one woman found a way to honor that connection through a project that blends memory, food, and family legacy. Rosie Grant documented a year spent reviving recipes engraved on gravestones, baking each dish alongside the families of the deceased, and shared the story on her Instagram page, @ghostly.archive.

The project, titled "Remembering ‘24," became a way to connect food with memory, using the gravestone recipes as a starting point for conversations and shared moments. Each gravestone she visited bore not only names and dates, but ingredients, measurements, and handwritten instructions that once lived in warm kitchens. As shown in the video, she first featured Peg's sugar cookies, meeting with Peg herself. The next visit featured Dawn’s chocolate chip cookies. Another stop was at the resting place of Debbie, whose tea biscuits had once brought comfort to her family. They were recreated with her daughter and a close friend.

The same care was extended to Maxine’s Christmas cookies that she is been making for years, John's mint brownies, Marie’s date squares, Bonnie’s no-bake cookies in Alaska, Mary’s fruit cake, which also offered her a chance to learn Christmas traditions from her granddaughter, and many more. Each dish was prepared with input from children, grandchildren, or longtime friends of the deceased. "Met up with Valerie’s son to talk about her soup and ways her family keeps her memory alive," one text overlay reads. Another recalls driving through a summer storm to visit Kimette and her carrot cake memorial. She also got lunch with Isabella's daughters and "confirmed nothing is better than bread and butter."

Her year-long reflection was summed up in the caption, "Remembering ‘24, a year of bringing gravestone recipes back to their source. Thank you to everyone who met up with me, hopped on Zoom, had a last-minute call, and an impromptu baking session." The post has drawn emotional responses from viewers who connected with the gesture. @fibre21 wrote, "As someone who cooks, I honestly believe that this is the greatest honour you could pay these people. Keeping their memory alive by making their recipes. Thank you." @scotty_wolf77 commented, "I just buried my mom two days ago, and all that we talked about was her cooking. This is a fabulous way to carry on family recipes. It legit made me cry."

@littledovah noted, "I don't know if there's an afterlife, but I hope that somehow these people can see you honor them like this." @georgierasco added, "Someone has probably said this already, but PLEASE publish a book with all of these eternal recipes! I would buy several copies for myself and as gifts!!! Love it!" @heycourty chimed in, "I never understood those people who took their recipes with them to their grave. This makes it take on a whole new meaning, and I like this one more. How special!" @meglinds13 shared, "Dawn is my great aunt! My cousin is the one who sent that recipe. Dawn would absolutely LOVE that you made her cookies and came to see her."

You can follow Rosie Grant (@ghostly.archive) on Instagram for more gravestone recipes.