Sundays

A cookbook with a memoir at its heart—about breakfast, the joy of a father and son cooking together, and how we show love through food.

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but it’s also the most intimate and personal. It’s when we’re in our pyjamas and with our families, not quite ready to face the world. It’s what we crave when we want comfort and it’s the easiest way to turn us back into kids again.

Mark Pupo got into the habit of preparing big breakfasts every Sunday with his neurodivergent kindergartener, Sam. Everything else in life was tough and complicated, but making breakfast together was weirdly easy. (It turned out Sam loved to crack eggs, and he was really good at it.) In the kitchen, the pressure was off and they had all the time in the world to goof around. This book is a record of that first year of a father and son cooking together—of what became their weekend ritual.

Filled with playful illustrations and 52 recipes for a full year of weekend breakfasts, Sundays is a journey through Mark and Sam’s morning adventures. Starting with simpler challenges, like Toast Soldiers and Almond Butter Overnight Oats, it builds to Mark’s favourite inspired dishes, including Eggnog French Toast Bake, Pumpkin Spice Pancakes, Cheddar Polenta Cakes, and Saucy Poached Eggs with Feta. Mark also revisits his own childhood breakfast obsessions (Pop-Tarts, egg sandwiches, and the elusive perfect bagel, to name a few), and along the way explores the surprising origins of breakfast staples.

By turns witty, charming, frank, and filled with delicious breakfast ideas, this book is for anyone who wishes every morning began with a stack of pancakes. Sundays is an infectious celebration of the most important meal of the day and the most important people in our lives.

MARK PUPO is a writer who’d rather be cooking. His stories have appeared in Toronto Life, Chatelaine, Today's Parent, and Reader’s Digest. At last count, he’s had breakfast 17,000 times. He lives in Toronto with his husband, Stephen, and son, Sam.