It took a global pandemic for me to hunker down and write down my own recipes, says Mark Poynton

Lockdown was just what Chef Mark Poynton needed to get his book, 'It's Just Food,' written.

The debut cookbook from Michelin-starred chef, Mark Poynton, available to order now, is a book that he said he “needed lockdown” to get done.

Over the course of the past two years, Mark wrote up his most cherished recipes from MJP Restaurant and his MJP @ Home offering.

The book itself features a foreword by Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House about his time working with Mark, and many anecdotes from his time in the catering industry, including what it’s like to gain and then lose a Michelin star and his time at Alimentum.

Then it transitions into the recipes, curated and organised by Mark, laid out in the style of the his tasting menus.

The book is being sold at his restaurant MJP Restaurant, the most recent of the chef’s hospitality iterations, located in Cambridge, where one can see the food being made by the professionals and then bring the recipes home.

The recipes are written in a great deal of depth with instructions designed to be simple enough for his 11-year-old-son to understand – but with the idea of appealing to proficient home cooks and chefs, too.

For Mark, writing a book has changed the way he comes up with new recipes – as prior to doing so, he never gave himself the time to write down his recipes or explain his process in great detail. Having written his book, he’s going to be making time to do just that.

And while the chef currently has no plans to write another, if he ever does, he’s definitely made it easier for himself.