 Note Lecters mention of having consumed a victims liver with,  specifically, fava beans and chianti. Liver, fava beans, and wine  all contain a substance called tyramine, which can kill you if  youre talking a certain class of antidepressant drugs known as MAO  inhibitors. MAO inhibitors were the first antidepressant drugs  developed, and were used primarily on patients in mental  institutions... and Lecter both worked in, and was committed to, a  mental institution.