Vicia Faba A flowering plant with delicate blooms in the pea family. This humble plant has supported human history with rich vitamins and delicious flavors. It is more commonly known as the Broad Bean, Fava bean or Faba bean. The culinary uses of the delightful Broad Bean are now global. Those unfamiliar may point fingers at the apparent toxicity present if one was to consume large amounts of uncooked beans. This is for the uninitiated to keep out those without a refined palette. In fact simply boiling this beautiful bean for 10 minutes makes it quite appetizing.