Borscht Belt area, New York, United States Actions Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/place/Borscht-Belt Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/place/Borscht-Belt Also known as: Jewish Catskills, Yiddish Alps Written by Jordana Rosenfeld Jordana Rosenfeld is a copy editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. Jordana Rosenfeld Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Sep 4, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents Also called: Yiddish Alps or Jewish Catskills (Show more) Borscht Belt, colloquial term that refers to a string of summer camps, resorts, hotels, and bungalows, predominantly in the Catskill Mountains and Adirondack Mountains in New York state, that catered specifically to American Jewish guests and were popular in the 20th century as year-round vacation destinations. At its height, the Borscht Belt boasted as many as a thousand such vacation establishments. The term Borscht Belt is said to have been coined by Variety editor Abel Green in reference to borscht, the cold beet soup popular among Jews of eastern European descent. Aside from the Borscht Belt’s importance in American Jewish ...(100 of 1676 words)
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