Hutspot (Hotchpotch in English), is a dish of bolied and mashed potatoes, carrots and onions.

According to legend, the recipe came from the cooked bits of potato left behind by hastily departing Spanish soldiers during their siege of Leiden in 1574 during the Eighty Year's War, when the liberators breached the dikes of the lower lying polders surrounding the city. This flooded all the fields around the city with around a foot of water. The Spanish soldiers camping in the fields were flushed out.

The anniversary of this event, known als Leids Ontzet, is still celebrated every October 3rd in Leiden. See "events" for more details.