ALL IN THE FAMILY

BIBISOL OPENED LAST YEAR IN SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA-AND QUICKLY EARNED A JAMES BEARD NOD. CHEF MARCELA SALAS SHARES A GLIMPSE INTO WHY.

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Born in coastal Veracruz, Mexico, Marcela Salas is bringing a different perspective on Mexican food to her South Dakota community. It’s one rooted in generational recipes, fresh ingredients, and masa prepared with corn not only nixtamalized onsite, but even grown locally. As told to Alicia Underlee Nelson.

FROM MEXICO, WITH LOVE

I describe my cooking as an homage to my matriarchal line. It’s the traditional recipes from within my family, intertwined with my own culinary journey. There’s a little bit of modernity, there’s tradition, but there’s some playfulness as well.

Bibisol is also an exploration of Mexican cuisine and how expansive it is. My mom and business partner, Patricia Burbine, was born in Durango, Mexico, and my grandfather and my grandmother moved around to different Mexican states. My grandmother never learned how to read or write, but she could remember every recipe she learned in all those different regions in Mexico.

They ended up settling in Veracruz, where I was born. You have the oldest established port in the Americas in Veracruz, so you have a lot of different cuisines from around the world.

FOOD THAT HEALS