Abstract: A utensil for use, for example, in the home or in restaurants, with a microwave oven for heating food preparation or service vessels (such as a dinner plate) and the food in such vessels. The utensil includes a matrix material and a microwave absorptive material. The utensil may also be configured for direct conductive heat transfer heating of food into which the utensil is immersed. Alternatively, an appliance for applying therapeutic dry or moist heat to the human body may use pellets of the matrix and microwave absorptive material in a flexible moisture and heat transmissive body.