Can we please make 2025 the year of the ‘wide burger’?

In 2025, I have just a few resolutions/goals that I’m determined to achieve this year: one is to lose a bit of weight, another is to improve my marathon PB and arguably the most important one is to champion the trend of the ‘wide burger’.

Yes, I’m fully aware that the burger thing doesn’t quite chime with the first two but I intend to reward myself with said burger after I hopefully smash the other ones.

First off, I want to begin this by making it clear that I am in no way calling for the end of the trusty dirty burger convention that has spanned more than a decade now (Manc pioneers like Almost Famous remain one of my go-to spots to this day), but I am advocating for some innovation.

I want this year to be the year of the wide burger, someone else can come up with a better name for it if anything comes to mind, I’m just a hungry ideas man.

If it isn’t already plainly obvious as to what I’m talking about, let me explain.

The culinary world often feels like it can get stuck in these cycles, be it people slapping pulled pork on things, salted caramel-flavoured everything or the current hot honey craze; they’re exciting for a while but, eventually, things move on as they should to keep our interests piqued and mouths salivating.

On the other hand, there are some food and drink staples that are so tried and tested that they rarely evolve that much, mainly because people will always eat them no matter what.

Case and point, burgers.

That being said, although there’s something undeniably enticing about a towering, food-porny mess of a burger dripping with cheese and grease, the advent has become so overly saturated in modern cuisine.

Besides the ‘smashed’ style enjoying its time in the spotlight – which we’re also really enjoying, by the way, this isn’t a diss on any perfectly cooked patty – I don’t think there’s been much evolution for a while and it’s almost starting to feel like we’ve seen most takes on burger a dozen times before.

Again, there’s no doubt that all of these bad boys are delicious – we’ve eaten them all, so we can definitely vouch for that – but we can’t pretend we haven’t seen similar creations not only in Greater Manchester but at countless places up and down the country.

Moreover, at what juncture are we feasibly going to stop and say, ‘Sorry, but this mountain of bread and meat is officially too tall and tackling it is more a challenge than it is the simple act of enjoyment that we hope for out of a burger’?…

We all know how appetising these things look at first glance in a picture and they certainly stand out from the other options on any given menu, but there has to come a point where a burger is just too unwieldy to even attempt eating and simply whacking even crazier, unexpected toppings won’t cut it.

That’s why I’m posing a rather straightforward change of tact or direction, rather: don’t go up, go out; don’t make it taller, just make it wider.

It’s also worth noting that this is by no means a totally original thought, but it is one I’m fully behind.

The proof is right there on the internet for everyone to see: the people have been asking the same question, ‘Why tall and not wide?’ for ages now and I think it’s time we put the prospect to the test.

Big dirty burgers stacked high with an immense surplus of extras are great on paper, especially when one of those overly indulgent days comes along and you want to pig out, but are they the most practical? I would suggest perhaps not.

I don’t want to have to disassemble a burger’s excessive layers or unhinge my jaw like a python to try and get my chops around my tea, I just want to take a big bite of a big burger with lots going and, as far as I can tell, there’s no reason this couldn’t happen with a burger that has greater width instead.

They don’t need elevation, they need surface area – as proven by the resurgence of delightfully crispy smash burgers – and it could open up a whole new avenue for those naughty cheat meals.

You could argue wide burgers or at least ‘wide-leaning’ offerings already exist, with one example being the viral and cult favourite Fergburger, made popular over in Queenstown, New Zealand, which tends towards a larger circumference rather than height.

@hawa.munches 📍fergburger, queenstown an iconic queenstown must eat 🫶🏻 we got: 🍔big al 🍔fergburger 🍟fries 🧅onion rings #queenstown #nzfoodie #nzfood #nzeats #foodie #foodlover #foodtiktok #foodtok #fyp ♬ original sound – cheekychowmein

Read more:

• 20 of the very best burgers in Manchester and beyond
• Five of the best BYOB restaurants in Greater Manchester
• A Manc’s guide to: Altrincham, officially one of the best places to live in the UK

Better yet, if you’ve ever been to a greasy spoon, old school caff or just a local butty shop and ordered a large barm or seen someone ask for a ‘bin lid’ (if you know, you know), then finding bread/buns/baps/whatever you want to call them big enough doesn’t even factor into the equation.

Another bonus upside is that this will in theory make big stacked burgers less of a tired novelty but rather a push-the-boat-out treat and once again see them restored as a worthwhile variation on one of the most popular foodstuffs on Earth.

Manchester has the chance to be the pioneering city at the forefront of a new craze, which is an opportunity that is really rare in gastronomy these days.

So how about it? How about we make 2025 the year we give wide burgers a go? And if I’m wrong then I’ll happily slink back into my chair and keep my mouth shut – most likely because there’s a burger in it.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group/MolnarSzabolcsErdely (via Pixabay)