Malnutrition is cancer’s wingman with a cruiser-ready shotgun. Cancer is formidable enough without this companion-in-arms by its side; and when the two team up, a two-front war is a necessity. At the government-run Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children (ICH) in Egmore, oncologists and social workers are engaged in such a war, the former treating the children at the cancer ward and the latter, treating them to eats, as nourishing as they are tasty, at a unique kitchen.It is called “Oncology Kitchen”, clearly the rarest of rare doublets. But this lexical pair enjoys easy familiarity with the tongues of its beneficiaries (at any given time around 50 children undergoing cancer treatment at ICH as well as a few children being treated for thalassemia) because from Monday to Saturday, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., the aroma of health food tastily done wafts out of this kitchen and heads to the beds at the cancer ward. The caretaker of a child registers and takes the food to the ward. Children who are not weak might tag along with their caretakers, and following registration, have the food in the kitchen.G.V. Williams, founder of the voluntary organisation Myrtle Social Welfare Network, which runs the Oncology Kitchen at ICH, notes this kitchen is hardly an add-on service, but one integral to cancer treatment which often causes severe weight loss and declining blood counts and ups nutritional demands significantly.