In a safe in Little Rock, Ark., restaurateur Scott McGehee keeps five recipes for what he considers one of the state’s biggest culinary treasures.

Two cheese-dip recipes were handed down by his late father, Frank. One came from the long-gone Taco Kid chain and cost $2,000, with hot-sauce and chili formulas thrown into the deal. The collection represents “the greatest recipes in cheese-dip lore,” says Mr. McGehee, who melded them into the “five families cheese dip” served at his Heights Taco & Tamale Co. in Little Rock.

When it comes to food, Arkansas has long lived in the shadow of neighbors such as Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee, known respectively for their fajitas, gumbo and Memphis barbecue. Many Arkansans think cheese dip has finally given them something to call their own.

Nick Rogers, a former lawyer now working on a doctorate in sociology, presented evidence in his 2009 documentary “In Queso Fever: A Movie About Cheese Dip” that the world’s first cheese dip might have been served at Mexico Chiquito, a North Little Rock restaurant chain that opened in 1935 and now has four locations. Mexico Chiquito serves vast quantities of cheese dip, often by the gallon, its owners say.

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism encourages tourists to travel the Cheese Dip Trail and has assembled a Google map with 19 stops at restaurants across the state where cheese dip is served.