The hidden message in The Silence of the Lambs

One of the iconic lines in The Silence of the Lambs is of course Hannibal Lecter declaring “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

Reddit user mrcchapman points out that the line has two meanings, the literal one and a more coded message.

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, wine.

Lecter is a) cracking a joke for his own amusement, and b) saying he's not taking his meds.

All those years in prison, and no one realized Lecter wasn't taking his meds. Brilliant.