Carol Field

Carol Field (March 27, 1940 – March 10, 2017) was an American cookbook author, writer, and librarian. She is known for introducing Americans to the variety of Italian breads with her book The Italian Baker.

Education Born Carol Helen Hart in Oakland, California, to James D. Hart, head of the English department at the University of California, Berkeley and Ruth Arnstein. Together, they had a son named Matt and a daughter, epidemiologist Alison Field.

Career Field worked as a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. She opened Minerva's Owl bookstore with a partner in 1962. The Italian Baker was first published in 1985.

A prolific writer, she wrote for numerous publications including Gourmet and Bon Appétit. In 1994, Italy in Small Bites was named the winner of the Italian Book James Beard Foundation Award. Sixteen years later, The Italian Baker was designated one of the James Beard Foundation's Baker's Dozen, a collection of "indispensable baking books." Field was elected a foreign member of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina in 1993 and the government of Italy named Field a Knight of the Order of Merit in 2004.

Selected works Field, Carol. Celebrating Italy. New York: Morrow, 1990. Field, Carol. Italy in Small Bites. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, 2004. Field, Carol, and Richard Kauffman. The Hill Towns of Italy. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1983, 1996. Field, Carol. In Nonna's Kitchen: Recipes and Traditions from Italy's Grandmothers. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Field, Carol. Focaccia: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2003. Field, Carol. Mangoes And Quince. New York: Bloomsbury, 2001, 2008. Field, Carol. The Italian Baker, Revised; The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies. Ten Speed Press, 2011.

Death She died of a stroke at home in San Francisco on March 10, 2017, aged 76.