Carol Field was born Carol Helen Hart in Oakland, California on March 27, 1940. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Wellesley College in 1961. She worked for a time as a librarian in the San Francisco public library system and then with a colleague opened Minerva's Owl, a bookstore, in 1962. She helped run the store for five years and then found work as a buyer for Scott Martin Books. She contributed articles to several magazines including City magazine, Gourmet, and Bon Appétit. After working as an editor at New West and San Francisco magazines, she wrote The Hill Towns of Italy, which was published in 1982.
Her first cookbook, The Italian Baker, was published in 1985. Her other cookbooks included Celebrating Italy, Italy in Small Bites, Nonna's Kitchen: Traditional Recipes and Culture from Italian Grandmothers, and Focaccia: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven. She also wrote a novel entitled Mangoes and Quince. In 2004, she was made a Knight in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. She died from complications of a stroke on March 10, 2017 at the age of 76.
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