Cookstown's long main street has a practical selection of cafes, bakeries, and restaurants serving the local population. The food culture here is solidly Northern Irish — good lunches, hearty portions, and an emphasis on local produce. The town is particularly associated with the Cookstown sausage, a fat, smooth-skinned pork sausage made to a distinctive local recipe that has been produced here since the 19th century; it appears on breakfast menus across the town and is sold in butchers up and down the main street.