Wide pots are better for even cooking and less clumping

Yes. If you’re cooking something that needs to stay separate (pasta, rice, grains, stir-fries), go wide. Wide means the heat spreads across a larger surface area, so the bottom gets more even contact and you get less of that weird hot spot in the center that burns while the edges stay cold.

Tall pots trap steam and concentrate heat in a small column. That sounds good for boiling, but for clumping-prone stuff (risotto, oatmeal, pasta), the narrow shape means the food piles up, gets less contact with the cooking liquid, and sticks together. You end up stirring more and still getting glue.

Wide also means faster evaporation, which can be a plus or minus depending on the dish. If you want to reduce a sauce, wide is your friend. If you’re trying to simmer something for hours without adding water, tall might actually make sense. But for preventing clumps? Wide, every time.

Don’t buy a stockpot for making pasta unless you like eating lumps.