This study examines the morphological structure and naming motivations of traditional culinary terms among the Kaili ethnic group of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Employing an ethnolinguistic approach within a qualitative-descriptive design, data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation involving four categories of informants (a cultural figure, three culinary experts, two culinary enthusiasts, and a local tourism official) selected through purposive sampling. Eighteen traditional culinary lexemes were analyzed using the interactive model of Miles and Huberman, combined with morphological classification and componential (semantic-feature) analysis. Findings show that Kaili culinary naming is structured into four lexical categories: reduplicated forms (33.3%), base/root words (33.3%), noun phrases or compounds (27.8%), and acronyms (5.6%). The naming process is shown to be non-arbitrary, systematically motivated by the primary ingredient, the processing technique, or a combination of both, and reflects the historical adaptation of the Kaili people to the ecological resources of the Palu valley, coastline, and highlands. This study contributes a documented lexical inventory that fills a gap in the linguistic and anthropolinguistic documentation of an under-recorded regional culinary vocabulary, and offers a replicable morphological-classification framework for comparative studies of ethnic culinary onomastics in Indonesia and beyond