Celebrity chef Shane Smith with one of his culinary creations.

Lavey chef launches delicious new website

Published: Sat 6 May 2017, 8:03 AM

Social media and food have become intertwined as the inclination to post images of culinary creations on the internet has become the norm, writes Thomas Lyons.

Sharing the aesthetic delight of food has become as much a part of dining as eating.

With this in mind Lavey chef Shane Smith has launched a website to bring together his online presence and give a little more to his social media followers. By day Shane is the head of pastry and product development at the prestigious Airfield Estate, Dundrum, Dublin.

He says that his new online venture was an natural progression: “I suppose the idea came from the need to bring all my social media together. I post a lot on social media. People are really interested in finding new recipes and often get in touch with me about my posts. I thought, by directing them to one area I, could control it a bit better. I came up with the main layout and visuals of the site.'
The aesthetics of the site are quite stunning. A lot of thought has gone into it. “I was going for clean lines, letting the visual images do the speaking more than anything else. I am extremely happy with the way it is going. It only went live a few weeks ago and the feedback has been great.”
Of course presentation is only a small part of what Shane is known for. “I always say that it has to taste good. That that is what you have to get right first but it also has to look good. Pastries are an area of the culinary industry that is becoming increasingly important. It is the last impression of the meal so, for me, I think that if you make a dessert it has to be stunning.”
Making beautiful creations can be a bit daunting for the amateur. However Shane says that people should not be put off. “A lot of people are scared of preparing their own pastries, they think it is quite intricate, calculated, but there is another part of pastry that is simple. It is about being organised, having things ready the day before. The finishing touches are what elevate dessert from the ordinary to the extraordinary.”
The internet has become a vital tool for the food business and this is what drove the pastry chef to have one site that showcased his work. “There is a huge following for food on social media, I suppose if your are not on social media, or using it to the best of your ability, you will be overlooked. To make a name for yourself you need a social media profile,” opines Shane.
He says that making it mobile friendly was huge consideration in the overall look of the site: “I would say that over 80% of people use there phones to access social media websites. People are using it on the go, they are checking it on their breaks, so we had to make sure that it was mobile friendly, with links to pictures on Instagram, Facebook and twitter.”
One of the big attractions of the website is to allow people to sign up to the monthly newsletter. “If users key in their email address and they get a monthly newsletter, which will have a seasonal recipe, events that I will be participating in and details of my TV3 work. I also have videos of my TV work on the site, so people can check out the videos. All the events like The Taste of Cavan or Bloom in the Park are linked on the website,” Shane concluded.
Log on to http://www.chefshanesmith.ie/ to see for yourself.

Or checkout this video of how to make his delicious rhubarb crumble slice