Hi friends,

Spooky season is well upon us and I for one am reveling in nostalgic childhood treats. Dreaming up plant-based worms n’ dirt, warming stovetop treats, and previously mentioned black sesame rice krispies you’ll want for all your Halloween-adjacent gatherings. (Scroll for recipe.) There’s something very adult in elevated indulgences that also include gummy creepy crawlies. October 31st is a special occasion around here if you couldn’t tell.

I am embracing autumnal sentimentality. Classic sweets reimagined and kitchen smells that wrap you in turning leaves. Cozy soups begin to simmer and the somewhat-culturally relevant costume you rely on in a panic at the end of the month waits in earnest at the back of your closet. Tis the season.

This week I’m ideating on savory squash pastas and topping apple cider donuts with apple furikake? And for all our new friends, we’re revisiting a favorite October themed interview with queen of legacy recipes, Rosie Grant, of @ghostly.archive. Her incredible work on gravestone recipe documentation is timely and always a good reminder to consider your own recipes worthy of a tombstone. 

Scroll on for an update from Rosie and hit that reply button to send me your favorite nostalgia inspired fall treat.

Stay hungry,
Hawnuh Lee | Founder, Closed Loop Cooking

This message is coming a little late this morning, we’ll be switching platform providers moving forward! Keep an eye on your ‘spam’ folder, just in case.

Miso + black sesame rice krispie treats.

Farmers are freedom fighters. CLC is a Jewish, queer founded platform that supports a free Palestine. This week we’re remembering the monumental legacy of farmer Yousef Abu Rabee. His work founding Thamra, promoted food sovereignty and seedling distribution across G@za. His dedication to community and collective action will not be forgotten. Support if you can. <3

• Motivating initiative from healthcare professionals to make plant-based meals the default in healthcare settings.

• Ultimate nostalgic treat making this week featuring stovetop applesauce from scratch and these miso + black sesame rice krispie treats. Did you know making your own black sesame paste is this easy?

• I need a faux food purse wall in my home.

• Shop like your nan! Following the call for plastic packaging ban in the UK.

• Listening in on this short pod series from Columbia University –Food Pod for Humanity.

• Another reason to buy package-free when you can!

• Filling my feed with more Good Climate News.

• The best kind of fake cheese for your Halloween costume.

Legacy recipes with Rosie Grant of Ghostly Archive

Interview by Hawnuh Lee
Photos from Rosie Grant

Seasonally timely, we’re re-running this brilliant interview with storyteller, Rosie Grant, also known as Ghostly Archive. Celebrated for her work highlighting gravestone recipes, she’s shared moving histories through recipe creation and documentation. As nostalgia creeps in towards year-end, Rosie’s perspective on legacy, family history, and what we leave behind is a necessary reminder.

Plus, an update from Rosie!

Hi Rosie, can you introduce yourself and Ghostly Archives to those who might not know your mission?

Ghostly Archive is a project where I find, cook, and feature recipes found on gravestones. I explore the connection between food and death and how food and someone's recipe helps us connect with and memorialize someone we've lost. 

You first made spritz cookies from the headstone of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson in Brooklyn, NY. What inspired you to follow her recipe? 

It came about from my 3 pastimes during the pandemic: learning how to cook, visiting cemeteries, and going on Tiktok. I was interning in the archives of Congressional Cemetery and learning about different ways people decide to be memorialized, and posting about what I learned on Tiktok. I was new to the death industry and loved how modern gravestones have so many different personalized features. I'd first read about Naomi's spritz cookie recipe on Atlas Obscura and was curious what the cookies tasted like, especially since I started learning how to cook at the start of the pandemic. 

Are you a self taught baker? Would you consider anyone a mentor in your baking journey?

One could say I'm learning to cook from the dead. Growing up I loved food, but wasn't much of a cook. In week one of the pandemic I got a subscription to New York Times Cooking and started working through recipes. It was the first time in my life I had more time at home than I knew what to do with. I also watched a lot of Youtube and Tiktok cooking videos. With every new gravestone recipe I've learned a lot. Naomi's spritz cookies I made incorrectly the first several times. I would post a video of how I made them and people in the comments would give me helpful instructions on how to properly make them, things like "My grandmother used to make these. You need a cookie press for spritz cookies" or "My family makes these every holiday. Refrigerate the dough before putting it into the press."

In the process of trying to recreate these, I've bought 3 cookie presses, 2 ice cream makers, a lot of baking supplies, and watched hours of videos to try and make each correctly. It's gotten easier each time. 

Can you speak more about food legacies and what you hope to instill with this project?

There is so much history and legacy wrapped up in a family recipe. Everytime a loved one revisits the recipe they are surrounded by more than stories of the person. They smell the familiar smells, see and touch the food, and taste the dish they’d enjoyed with that person. All your senses drop into the memory of them, and you’re surrounded by the person and a food they loved to share with others. And of course it's particularly special to see a family recipe etched on a gravestone, but beyond that I hope it encourages people to have discussions with their family about what recipes are important to them. Who are the cooks of your family and what are your family food traditions? It's important to cook them together, write them down, savor the memories. I get messaged or a comment almost daily of people sharing their food memories, things like: "I wish I'd gotten my dad's recipe before he passed away" or "when I miss my grandma I make her chicken soup she made for me as a kid." A lot of us, me included, have taken for granted our family food legacies, and this project has been a reminder to talk about this with my family and help preserve our recipes and food traditions. 

What recipe has surprised you most in Ghostly Archives?

I didn't think much about the connection between food and death when I first started, now it's hard to unsee that. Food and death are our two constants: we all have to eat and we'll all pass away someday. Food also helps us in the grieving process, whether it's through comfort food or making the food we once enjoyed with someone we've lost. Through learning about gravestone recipes, food also makes death a little easier to talk about. Particularly in the US death is a pretty taboo topic. I personally am uncomfortable with the idea of it and growing up didn't want to think or talk about it. But a recipe on a gravestone makes it so much easier to broach this topic. It's a more comfortable way for my loved ones and I to have conversations about how do we want to be memorialized? How do we want to be remembered?

How has this project cultivated community and connection for you?

The #gravetok community has been particularly wonderful. It's a group of cemetery creators and taphophiles who dedicate a lot of time to educating and preserving cemeteries, whether it's through gravestone cleaning, death education, or telling the stories of the people buried in cemeteries around the world. There has also been a very kind community in those who have shared stories about the loved ones they've lost and how food played a role in helping them grieve and connect to their memories. I am very grateful to every person who has reached out to connect and share their memories. 

Has your time in cemeteries influenced your own relationship to food?

It has, in the way that food connects to everything. I always loved food and eating, even if I didn't reflect on food legacies until starting this project. I was never uncomfortable in cemeteries, I always found them peaceful places. So the connection between the two was surprising at first, but ultimately a lesson in how cemeteries preserve information; they're an archive reflecting our past, be it the names of those we've lost or even a family recipe engraved in stone. In seeing recipes on gravestones it's made me realize the importance food and the people who cook for us, spend time at meals with us, and create those food memories with us. 

Are there upcoming gravestones you're planning to visit?

Yes, I'm hoping to locate and learn more information about a peanut butter cookie recipe on a Maine gravestone. I'm working with the Maine historical society to try and find information of who this recipe belongs to. 

Can you tell us what your gravestone recipe will be?

I make a clam linguine I'm very proud of; it includes white wine and parsley and it's my go-to at dinner parties. I know I'd love to be buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC; it's a beautiful cemetery that does a lot of work to preserve the memorials and stories of those interred there.   

Any words of wisdom you can impart having been through this experience?

Interview your families about your food history - there is no time like the present! I created a post with a list of questions to ask them if you need a place to start. I also made a list of death, food & grief resources for anyone interested in learning more.

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Thank you Rosie! Such a treat to hear your insights and travel with you through time. An update in October 2024–Rosie is officially working on a Ghostly Archive cookbook! With 37 gravestone recipes and in-depth family interviews, you can keep an eye peeled for the official release, next year. Congrats! <3

Seasonal pot patina PSA.

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