Borscht Belt

Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the (now mostly defunct) summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties in upstate New York. Borscht, a soup associated with immigrants from eastern Europe, was a euphemistic way of saying "Jewish". These resorts were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews between the 1920s and the 1970s. Close to New York City, the growth of air travel made the Catskills less attractive.

Most Borscht Belt resorts hosted traveling Jewish comedians and musicians, and many who later became famous began their careers there.

Etymology

The name is a paraphrase of the term Bible Belt in regard to the area where lodges featured borscht (also spelled borsch, borsht, or bortsch) - a beet-based soup popular among Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants who brought it to the United States and expected that their favorite dish will be served during vacation.

The dish in question is a traditional lunch/dinner staple of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, typically served as a first course of an afternoon meal. Not Jewish in origin itself, it was presumably adopted from the region past generations of the Jewish diaspora lived in.