To illustrate various aspects of stability behaviour, comparison is made between the physico-chemical characteristics of hydrocolloid emulsifying agents and those of other kinds of food emulsifying agents – surfactants, proteins and nanoparticles.Interfacial complexation between protein and polysaccharide may occur through covalentbonding or electrostatic bonding. For the case of electrostatic protein–polysaccharide complexes, the interfacial nanostructure and the stabilizing properties of the adsorbed layer are dependent, amongst other things, on the sequence of adsorption of the biopolymers to the emulsion droplet surface.