Le Cordon Bleu (French for "The Blue Ribbon") is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with 35 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually. Its primary education focus is on hospitality management and the culinary arts. In the United States, there are 17 associated Cordon Bleu schools, plus an online school.

The origin of the school comes from L'Ordre des Chevaliers du Saint Esprit, an elite group of French knights that was created in 1578. Each member was awarded the Cross of the Holy Spirit, which hung from a blue ribbon. According to one story, the group became known for its extravagant and luxurious banquets, known as "cordons bleus". While these dinners ended at the time of the French Revolution, the name remained synonymous with excellent cooking. Another theory has it that the blue ribbon simply became synonymous with excellence, and this was later applied to other fields such as cooking.

The name was adopted by the French culinary magazine, La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu, founded by Marthe Distel in the late 19th century. The magazine began offering special lessons by some of the best chefs in France. This eventually grew to become a cooking school that opened in Paris in 1895 and quickly became one of the most élite cooking schools in the world. The school closed during the German occupation of Paris (1940-44). After the war, Madame Elisabeth Brassart relaunched the school both on rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris and at the Chateau de Montjean.

Cordon Bleu may refer to:

Graham Elliot Bowles (born January 4, 1977), known professionally as Graham Elliot, is a Chicago, Illinois-based chef.

Elliot was born in Seattle, Washington, as a self-described "Navy brat". He dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and started out in the food business as a dishwasher and bus boy for two years. He attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. In the summer of 2010, he changed his name professionally "after a lifetime of confusion and typos", according to his publicist.

Elliot's first position following culinary school was at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five diamond/five-star property in Dallas, working under Chef Dean Fearing. He then went to The Jackson House Inn & Restaurant in Woodstock, Vermont. It was there that he was named one of the ten Best New Chefs of 2004 by Food & Wine Magazine. Elliot then moved to Chicago to work under the famed Charlie Trotter and Rick Tramonto at TRU. He later toiled at Avenues at The Peninsula hotel, also in Chicago, where he received numerous accolades. Under Elliot, Avenue earned a four-star rating from the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Magazine as well as a AAA Five Diamond Award.