Cellulose ethers are described herein which are useful in food compositions. In these cellulose ethers the ether substituents are methyl groups, hydroxyalkyl groups, and optionally alkyl groups being different from methyl, the cellulose ether has a DS(methyl) of from 1.65 to 2.20, an MS(hydroxyalkyl) of from 0.10 to 1.00, and hydroxy groups of anhydroglucose units are substituted with methyl groups such that [s23/s26−0.2*MS(hydroxyalkyl)] is 0.35 or less, wherein s23 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxy groups in the 2- and 3-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with methyl groups and wherein s26 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxy groups in the 2- and 6-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with methyl groups.
