Nutritional composition of traditional cowpea-based dishes sampled in South Benin

Regular consumption of legumes is recommended worldwide for its environmental and health benefits. Cowpea, the most-frequently consumed legume in West African countries, is rich in nutrients and health-promoting bioactive compounds. In southern Benin, a wide variety of cowpea-based dishes are observed. These dishes can be classified into three groups: doughnuts (Ata, Ata-doco, Ataclè), mixed dishes (Abla, Atassi, Djongoli), and stews (Adowè, Abobo, Vêyi). Since the nutritional composition of these foods was poorly documented, we sampled these nine dishes from street food vendors in Cotonou for laboratory analysis to determine their nutritional composition (proximate composition, minerals, folate, thiamine, phytates, and alpha-galactosides). These data will allow to complete the food composition tables and may be useful in the case of food consumption surveys in West Africa.