(sometimes initial capital letters) the hotels of the predominantly Jewish resort area in the Catskill Mountains, many of them offering nightclub or cabaret entertainment.
Also called borscht belt.
Origin
1935-40; so called, facetiously, from the quantities of borscht consumed there
Slang definitions & phrases for borscht belt
borscht belt
noun phrase
The region in and near the Catskill Mountains north of New York City where many predominantly Jewish resort hotels are found (1930s+)
Any neighborhood peopled by Russians or Russian emigrants: Just south of the Fairfax borscht belt and across the street from the Farmer's Market(1990s+)
[fr Russian borshch, ''beet soup'' (in its Yiddish spelling), a focus of the cuisine]
borscht circuit
noun phrase
The resort hotels of the Cats-kills borscht belt, regarded as a circuit for entertainers, lecturers, etc (1930s+)