Abstract: Although they may be the most well-known, Campbell’s Soup Company is not the only crafter of fine artisanal soups in the Midwest. The neighborhoods, cities and subterranean habitats of Chicagoland are becoming well-known for producing a unique local soup of their own; Culex soup. The recipe starts simple but rapidly becomes more complicated. To make the base of the soup, you first take the Culex pipiens cryptic species complex and hybridize Culex pipiens and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus just north of the traditional “hybrid zone”. One could stop there for a rather pedestrian take on this recipe. However, to create the piquant flavors this soup is really known for, a dash of the subterranean and autogenic Culex pipiens f. molestus is required. These three mosquitoes are then thoroughly mixed in varying amounts throughout the area giving each neighborhood their own unique flavor profile. The triple disease threat of hybridized Culex soup is quite enough for most people. However, other areas like to spice things up like Emeril Lagasse (Bam!) by adding some Culex restuans, Culex salinarius, or Culex erraticus to the mix. Like deep dish pizza or Italian beef sandwiches, the complex mixture of mosquito flavors known as Culex soup is gaining recognition as another gourmet specialty of the Chicago area.
