Turkey is the meat of Meleagris gallopavo, a large ground-dwelling fowl native to North America and the centrepiece of the American Thanksgiving and the Christmas table across much of the English-speaking world. It is a lean poultry with two distinct kinds of flesh — a pale, mild "white" breast and a darker, richer, more sinewy "dark" leg and thigh — prized for feeding a crowd from a single roast and famous for drying out unless brined, basted or cooked with care.