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Cowpea is one of the highly nutritious grain and vegetable pulse crop with nutraceutical values in India, which is commonly known as lobia and chaura. Cowpea represents an economical source of protein, calories and B-vitamins and therefore it is regarded as the “poor man's meat”. It is rich in nutraceutical compounds such as dietary fibre, antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids and polyphenols. Compared with other pulses it is less expensive with almost same nutritive value. Being tolerant to drought famine and dry season, cowpea can make a significant contribution to the diet of the rural households. In this review, various characteristics of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), including physical properties, nutritional and anti-nutritional composition along with culinary uses and processing of cowpea, were studied with the objective to demonstrate that cowpea is a most suitable legume crop for inclusion in food security programs especially for vulnerable poor.

Keywords: Cowpea, Fibre, Lobia, Chaura, “Poor man's meat”.