borsht

In the finale episode, Cheliah went against Borsht for a two-part cook-off.

The police chief is a fatherly figure with a stock of white hair and moustache (both allowed to grow longer than those of his underlings) and his household a preserve of steaming hot borsht and joyously screaming youngsters.

But if that were so, why were borsht, a distinctly Russian beet soup, and mozzarella salad (aka ensalada Caprese at your finer Italian restaurants) listed as well?

The Sun Belt, the Bible Belt, the Frost Belt, the Grain Belt, the Cotton Belt, the Borsht Belt--all describe distinctive qualities about their respective regions.

ADD TO BORSHT, VODKA, AND IMPOSING FUR hats another quintessential feature of Russian life: rigged elections.

Nothing could have been more natural on the Borsht Belt than a touch of Yiddish, wherever you happened to have come from or which particular house of worship embittered your childhood.

Also served was borsht, a soup made with beetroot, beef shank, cabbage, onions, potatoes and dill topped off with a scoop of sour cream and ohotnichi kolbaci (hunter's sausage).

I was glad I had run out of time in the preparations to go to any trouble to try to accommodate the Russian diet --although I'm not sure borsht and herring goes too well on a boat anyway.

Tonight you'll learn that I had a three season career as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's version of the Borsht belt.