He earns about €1,800 (£1,500) a month despite working from 6.30am until 7pm and every other Sunday.
Mr Merle accuses the chefs of ignoring ordinary families unable to afford premium produce.
“Mr Marcon runs a very, very high-end restaurant,” he says. “It is possible to produce top-of-the-range food for those who can afford it, but other people have extremely limited budgets.
“We have to feed everybody.”
Mr Marcon, who, with his family, supplies the village school canteen, runs the cheaper bistro and sells sandwiches made with local produce from its bakery, rejects the charge.
“I’m always told: ‘You serve €300 meals, so you’re part of the elite,’” he says. “But ours is the cheapest three-star restaurant in France; I also cook school meals for €3.50, make sandwiches for €4.50 and serve meals in my bistro. I’m not out of touch.”
The chef remains unapologetic.
“This isn’t Left or Right,” he says. “It is about feeding our children properly.”
France remains the world’s leading tourist destination, he says, not merely because of its monuments but because of its cuisine and landscapes shaped by generations of farmers.
“What are people coming here for?” he asks. “They come for the produce and the countryside.
“The day there is no more livestock on the Mézenc plateau, what will we find? Maize as far as the eye can see.
“We will no longer be in the countryside. We will be in an industrial landscape.”
Dining and Cooking