ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

How a TikTok archivist is celebrating the memories of strangers, one recipe at a time

Share
WASHINGTON -

Digital librarian Rosie Grant is finding inspiration through very unusual hobby: baking recipes from gravestones in cemeteries across America.

"Death is such a taboo topic," she said in a video call with CTV National News Washington Bureau Correspondent. "It's scary to think about our own mortality, but there's this beautiful celebration of a who a person was."

For the past year, Grant has been baking cookies, pies, meatloaf, or any other recipe she finds etched in gravestones, and shares it on her popular TikTok account, called . It was initially started as a school project while studying library science at the University of Maryland. Many of her videos have gone viral attracting millions of views.

"Food has this incredible connection to these memories, these good times," she said.

For the past year, Grant has been searching for gravestones with recipes etched on them. One discovery took her to Logan, Utah, where beloved grandma, Kay Andrews' famous fudge is engraved on a giant tablet.

Her viral video caught the attention of Andrews' daughter, Janice. She told CTV News her mother often made her fudge for the whole community before her death 3 years ago at 97 years of age. And her late mother wanted to share her recipe as a permanent reminder of her generosity and sense of humour.

"She loved chocolate," said Janice Andrews from her home in Syracuse, Utah, adding her late mother would be laughing at the online fame.

"Nobody puts a fudge recipe on a headstone unless they're pretty funny," she said.

So far, Grant has made more than 11 gravestone recipes. She ends each TikTok with "another recipe to die for".

"I wish I could host a dinner party with all of them" she said. 

Best cheese dip ever 🪦

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.