ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the global food words are used as cultural capital across the world, with a particular focus on the relationship between East Asia and the West. It explores the English words of East Asian origin are used in English languages, and also how English is used as cultural capital in East Asia. The idea of ‘cultural capital’ was first posited by Pierre Bourdieu in the 1980s as a description of “the symbols, tastes, and preferences that can be strategically used as resources in social action”. A prominent example of foreign branding in the UK is provided by the popular sandwich chain Pret a Manger, which based its brand name on the French phrase ‘Pret a Manger’, meaning ‘ready to eat’, despite the fact that the chain was founded in the UK in 1986 to serve a domestic market.
