 Borscht is associated with and claimed by several ethnic groups , especially Ukrainians , Russians , Poles , Lithuanians and Ashkenazi Jews , as their own national or ethnic dish and cultural icon . Such claims are not necessarily mutually exclusive , as the soup 's history predates the emergence of modern nation states , with their ever @-@ shifting borders , in Eastern Europe . Borscht , in the words of Burlakoff , " is perfectly suited to a global culture . " He describes it as " a global phenomenon " , in which " local variants are so numerous and diverse that it is hard sometimes for a non @-@ specialist to grasp that any single example of it is something that is part of a unified tradition . " In his view , borscht " is an almost perfect example of ... ' <unk> ' – a phenomenon that is global in distribution but reflective of local needs and ways in its variants and adaptation ; ... a highly localized product that became globalized , and in the process adapted to conditions other than the original ones . " However , according to Irina <unk> , a Russian linguist and anthropologist , " people tend to be very <unk> about their food and proud of it . " A " connection between culinary and territorial claims " may be observed , which results in the culinary area turning into " a battlefield generating and proliferating all kinds of myths . " 
