Secret Joke in ''the Silence of the Lambs''

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

Great line from the Silence of the Lambs everyone knows. But most people don't realize Hannibal Lecter is making a medical joke. Lecter could be treated with drugs called monoamine oxidase inhibitors, MAOIs. As a psychiatrist, Lecter knows this.

The three things you can't eat with MAOIs? Liver, beans, and wine.

Lecter is a: cracking a joke for his own amusement, and/or b: saying he's not taking his medicine.