Four young New Zealanders growing up in their parents' restaurants are the stars of Takeout Kids - a new Spinoff video series by filmmaker Julie Zhu.
Even though her own parents didn't run a small business when she was younger, they were always working, Julie tells Kim Hill.
In Takeout Kids, she was keen to find out what such a life is like for children today.
Julie Zhu Photo: Supplied
Julie, who co-produced two seasons of the RNZ series Conversations With My Immigrant Parents, was born in China and raised in Auckland.
While she grew up "being Chinese and not wanting to be Chinese", the children in Takeout Kids can switch between different cultures quite naturally, she says.
"[Identifying with more than one culture] is a lot more normalised now. Young people who grew up in diaspora… they're so used to jumping between these different contexts and code-switching."
The four young people in the series juggle school and friends with a family life centred on a restaurant or takeaway shop.
Each one has a different attitude to their family business, Julie says.
While some of the older ones are more reluctant to help out, not so Rama - a 12-year-old who takes orders at her family's Jordanian restaurant in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland.
In an episode about a young Chinese-New Zealander named John, feeding is an act of love.
In Chinese culture, asking 'Have you eaten?' is akin to saying 'I love you', Julie says.
"All those times we've been asked by our parents 'have you eaten?'… that actually translates to a form of checking in and a showing of love and care by parents [in cultures where] 'I love you' might not be so natural to say."
Although Julie "rejected" speaking Mandarin when she was a child, communicating with a Mandarin-speaking cast member on a short film recently left her feeling empowered, she says.
"I'm really proud of that journey of being able to reclaim [that aspect of my cultural identity] or starting to now.".
Takeout Kids will be released in its entirety on The Spinoff on Tuesday, February 15.
