The secret to a successful romantic comedy isn't the amount of rain-soaked reunion kisses—it's roast chicken. Queen of the genre Nancy Meyers tells Bon Appétit that it's the "good luck charm meal" across many of her movies, including when Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson eat it at a French restaurant in Something's Gotta Give and Meryl Streep cooks one for Alec Baldwin when they consider getting back together in It's Complicated. "Ina Garten talks about Jeffrey's favorite meal being her roast chicken," Meyers points out. "So it must be a universal way to show love."

Food is so prevalent in Meyers' movies—usually featured in extravagant kitchens with marble islands and Viking appliances—that its almost become a character of its own. "When I'm shooting those scenes, I always want things to be bountiful. I don't want three oranges in a bowl; I'll always want 12. It represents family and it's a good way of making a house feel homey," the writer-producer-director explains." She prefers to write scenes where people get to know each other in a kitchen rather than sitting on a living room couch, because it feels more realistic and interactive. With the recent release of her latest rom-com, Home Again starring Reese Witherspoon, we asked Meyers to share the best food scenes from her movies. It was a tough call, so she enlisted the help of her daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer (who wrote and directed Home Again) to help narrow them down.

Streep and Martin have a romantic date at the kitchen island in It's Complicated. Universal Pictures

It's Complicated

"I love when Jane and Alex get high and make croissants in It's Complicated," Meyers says of the Meryl Streep and Steve Martin date scene. "She gets to put her hand on his hand as he rolls the croissant into the right shape, and they are silly together with the dough. It's so fun, and really the perfect date." To prepare, Meyers and Streep actually took a baking class together from Sarabeth Levine of Sarabeth’s in NYC before they shot the scene in her kitchen. "She taught us how to make perfect croissants, and I haven't had one since because the amount of butter in a croissant recipe is not to be believed! I know that’s what makes them so good, but I literally haven’t had one since 2009."