A History of Le Cordon Bleu

Cross of the Holy Spirit that once hung from a cordon bleu.

LCB’s roots dig as deep as 1578. An elite group of knights would compete during royal dinners. Winners would be adorned with a Cross of the Holy Spirit which hung from a blue ribbon, “cordon bleu.”

The knights didn’t quite make it through the French Revolution and their group was disbanded. The ‘cordon bleu’ did however, become synonymous with excellence and was applied to cooking and food.

The name, La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu, was adopted in the late 19th century for a magazine. The magazine became so popular that a cooking school to supplement it was opened in 1895. This was the beginning of LCB as we know it today.

After a succession of owners the school is currently owned by André J. Cointreau, descendent of the liquor company.

LCB began and evolved in Paris, but since the mid-1930’s additional campuses have been opened around the world.

There are two types of LCB schools:

1. Schools built, managed, taught, and funded by LCB’s André J. Cointreau (the real deal).
2. Schools that have signed marketing agreements with LCB to include the LCB name on their programs. These schools actually have very little to do with the real LCB (far from the real thing).

So it is always important when someone says that they were trained at LCB to ask them as which campus. If it’s Portland, OR, for example, then ask them what the real name of their school was (Art Institute of Portland).

LCB has established credible campuses in the following world cities:

- Paris, France
- London, UK
- Ottawa, Canada
- Seoul, South Korea
- Kobe, Japan
- Tokyo, Japan
- Adelaide, Australia
- Sydney, Australia

The only method that LCB teaches is French. On occasion, there will be some incorporation of local ingredients or techniques for those programs taught outside Paris. In general though, the training is French.

As I have said before, if I am going to learn French cooking then I am going to learn it in France. It doesn’t make sense for me to go to London because they speak English, to Japan because I understand the culture and country, or even to Canada because it is closer to home. So for me there is no other place than LCB in Paris.