Maybe your grandmother crosses herself when she sees a sight like this: a person recording themselves on their cell phone next to the graves of their loved ones. Gone are the days when the mention of the cemetery gave you goosebumps. What also remained were those teenage horror film sets in which the cemetery next to the school was the culprit of their nightmares. There are no longer any no-go zones for assets on the Internet.
The hashtag #gravetok on TikTok (from the English word “grave”) collects millions of views. Under this umbrella we find all kinds of content: repairing and cleaning gravestones, telling the personal and family history of the respective deceased or cooking from beyond the grave. The latter is thanks to Rosie Grant, whose posts went viral by sharing recipes from food enthusiasts who are no longer with us. I interned at a cemetery in Washington DC. “I started on TikTok and had to choose a topic to post, so I chose #gravetok and talked about how we remember people. As I learned about the funeral industry, I introduced various graves. Then I saw the grave of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson, a woman buried in Brooklyn. He had a recipe for spritz cookies on his gravestone and I was curious. I tried it and posted it on TikTok. Then I discovered I wasn’t the only one who left a recipe on her gravestone. People started contacting me with photos of their family graves and a recipe,” he says.
The seriousness and sensitivity of the matter is questioned by many. “The interest in cemeteries and death is universal and timeless. “They have always been an environment exorcised and squeezed by cultural production, sometimes exoticized, sometimes as a vehicle to express problems, threats or fears, many others just as a mysterious scenario,” explains Albert Lloreta, founder of Bonobo Films and topic analyst of digital culture. “In the digital creative industry, which is based on highlighting the entire human experience on entertainment platforms, death and cemeteries have a similar importance. “Gravetok is nothing more than the successful mix of satisfying cleaning videos and the emotional and nostalgic environment of cemeteries,” he says.
Therefore, one might wonder whether this helps in coping with trauma in any way. “I really appreciate people’s willingness to share stories about those they have lost and how they reconnect with their memories through food. Maybe they cook their mom or dad’s favorite recipe on the anniversary of their death or their birthday, and that recipe keeps their memory alive,” says Grant.
For Lloreta, one does not exclude the other: “It is frivolous because the real engine is actually a question of interest, but at the same time it has an undeniable creative value.” Emphasizing this dichotomy between honesty and return during visits, therefore success in networks (which ultimately means nothing more than playing what TikTok suggests) is the most interesting way to understand and navigate the cultural phenomena of the digital creative industry.
Now you might want to think about what your final recipe is that you can engrave in stone for posterity. Rosie Grant is clear: “My recipe for linguine with clams: one of my favorite dinner party recipes, and the instructions are simple enough to fit into an inscription.”
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_