The amino acids ana fatty acids of cowpea were determined and physicochemical properties of cowpea starch and rheological properties of cowpea starch gel were investigated. The results were as following: The proteins of cowpea were particularly rich in glutamic acid (20.02%) and aspartic acid (12.21%) and contained considerable amount of leucine (8.99%), lysine (7.20%) and tryptophan (1.81%), whereas were poor in sulpho-containing amino acids. The lipids of cowpea were mainly composed of 31,43% linoleic acid, 28.34% linolenic acid, 22.9% palmitic acid and 7.63% oleic acid and the small amount of myristic, arachidonic and behenic acid was contained. The ratio of the saturated to the unsaturated in cowpea oil was 32~33/67~68. Cowpea starch gel showed lower values for hardness and brittleness than mung been starch gel, whereas a higher value for cohesiveness than mung bean starch gel, Cowpea starch gel showed lower values for $E_H$, $E_V$ than mung bean starch gel, whereas higher values for $n_V$, $n_N$ than mung bean starch gel. Cowpea starch gel had a lower value for elasticity than mung bean starch gel and had a higher value for viscosity than mung bean starch gel.