A food product comprising a substrate of pieces of meat, poultry, fish, vegetable, fruit or dairy food and an aqueous composition coating the substrate provides improved performance, particularly for microwave cooking of reheating of the food product. The aqueous coating composition includes a mixture consisting of by dry weight:cellulose gum15-35%modified starch15-50%hydrocolloid ；20-30%,wherein the hydrocolloid is selected from the group consisting of xanthan gum, carrageenan gum, guar gum and mixtures thereof, andproteinaceous component10-20%；wherein the percentages of the ingredients are selected from the ranges quoted to total 100%； andwherein the aqueous coating composition does not contain any substantial amount of polydextrose.
