The South Dakota Food So Popular It Has Its Own Festival

There's a good chance meat lovers will enjoy chislic; if you've chomped on a shish kebab, chances are you're ready to sink your teeth into the snack that was declared South Dakota's official state nosh in 2018. The term chislic can be traced to the aforementioned shish kebab – the Turkish and Arabic words for skewered meat — and the dish itself is credited to an immigrant who arrived in South Dakota sometime in the 1870s from Eastern Europe. 

Organizers of the South Dakota Chislic Festival associate chislic with rural farm communities. The festival's organizing group identifies with Germanic migrants who had previously originated from Russia and landed in southeastern South Dakota before introducing the snack to the state. After the first event's success in 2018, the group was motivated to make it an annual occasion. The festival's calendar is packed with activities, including bean bag and frisbee golf tournaments, bingo, a fleet of vendors, community barbecues, live music, and, of course, the ability to get your fill eating as many skewers of cooked cubed meat as your stomach can handle.

Chislic can be prepared in an assortment of ways, including grilled or fried, and some chefs may marinate the cubes or simply flavor them with salt. While chislic can be presented pierced on a stick, other restaurants may pile the chunks of meat onto a plate. Cooked chislic can be served with sauces or crackers, though you can also drizzle French dressing, ranch, BBQ sauce, or hot sauce on top of the cubed meat or use these as a kind of dipping sauce.

Hot debates have risen in attempts to locate the tastiest chislic in South Dakota's top restaurants. One city in particular — Freeman — seems to have developed a cluster of establishments serving up this well-known skewered meat. Though the dish was originally prepared with lamb or mutton, chislic can also be made with beef or venison. Different restaurants throughout the area have laid claim to their unique recipes, however.

Should you find yourself in South Dakota around the scheduled festival, you may also want to try a pheasant salad sandwich while you're in the area. Both options are delicious when accompanied by a pint of cold beer.