ST. MATTHEWS, S.C.

IT’S not hard to get Emile DeFelice riled up. Just mention Paula Deen, the so-called queen of Southern food, who cooks with canned fruit and Crisco. Or say something like “You don’t look like a Southern pig farmer.” He’ll practically hit the ceiling of his Prius.

Because there are a few things about Southern food that the man just can’t stand: its hayseed image, the insiders who feed that image and the ignorant outsiders who believe in it.

“Just because I’m a farmer doesn’t mean I spend all my time feeding pigs,” said Mr. DeFelice, a natty, voluble fellow who raises 200 pigs here at Caw Caw Creek Farm in the softly forested hills north of Charleston, S.C. “That’s an absurd proposition.”

Mr. DeFelice’s pork is coveted by chefs around the country, but his ambitions are much bigger than bacon. In 2004, he started a local-only farmers’ market because he was so outraged that produce from California and Chile was allowed at the state-run farmers’ market nearby. He hopes to run for state agriculture commissioner in 2014.