Alexandria native Rosie Grant has spent the past few years tracking down recipes taken to the grave — and now, you can try them yourself. Sharon’s French silk pie, Naomi’s spritz cookies, and Marty’s ranch dip are just a few of the dishes featured in Grant’s debut cookbook, To Die For: The Last Recipes of Beloved Cooks, out this month.
It all started back in 2021. While Grant pursued a master’s degree in library science from the University of Maryland, she interned as an archivist at D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery. Though she didn’t find any recipes engraved there, Grant soon learned that across the country, some families immortalize their loved ones’ best dishes right on their headstones.
“You’ve got to be curious,” she says. “You see a recipe and you’re like, ‘What do these cookies taste like?’”
Sharing on TikTok
Sharing her discoveries on TikTok as @Ghostly.Archive, Grant’s videos quickly went viral. She recreated each dish and visited with the families behind the recipes. The most popular clip has drawn more than 11 million views — proof that this unusual way of preserving family food history has struck a chord…