Dali's local cuisine is Bai minority cooking — distinct from the Han-Chinese food found elsewhere in the country. Signature dishes include rushan (a fried strip of cow's-milk cheese, surprising in a Chinese context), erkuai (a chewy rice cake, eaten grilled with sweet or savoury toppings or stir-fried with vegetables), and shaguo yu (sour-and-spicy fish stew cooked in a clay pot, traditionally with fish caught from Erhai Lake).
Renmin Lu in the old town has a dense strip of small Bai-cuisine restaurants. Bai Family Banquet places (Bai Jia Yan) along the main streets serve set-menu local feasts. For Western food, the Foreigner Street area still has cafes catering to long-staying travellers, though many of the original 1990s spots have closed. Around Erhai Lake, the village of Shuanglang has become a destination for upscale Yunnan cooking in renovated courtyard restaurants.