A New World bird in an Old World setting
The mismatch comes down to geography and timing. Turkeys were domesticated in the Americas; Europeans could not have served them before contact between the continents brought the birds across the Atlantic. In the Renaissance era, European cooks roasted plenty of other poultry and meat, but a turkey leg would have been out of reach.
Once turkeys arrived in Europe, they eventually became familiar food there. That later history can make the leg seem plausible at a glance—but it does not place the bird on a medieval or Renaissance table.
Why it fits the fair anyway
A Renaissance faire is a modern entertainment setting, not a menu reconstructed strictly from period recipes. Its oversized turkey leg works as a kind of edible costume: it looks dramatic, is easy to carry around, and signals “feast” more instantly than a historically precise meal would.
That distinction is part of the fun. The leg belongs to the faire’s playful image of the past, where a handheld roast can evoke a banquet even though the bird itself crossed the ocean centuries too late.
