association_table = db.Table('association', db.Model.metadata,
    db.Column('left_id', db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('orders.order_id')),
    db.Column('right_id', db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('fooditems.fooditem_id'))
)

class OrderModel(ReviewableModel):
    __tablename__ = 'orders'
    order_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('reviewables.id'), primary_key=True)
    food_items = db.relationship("FoodItemModel", secondary = association_table)
    __mapper_args__ = {'polymorphic_identity':'orders'}

class FoodItemModel(ReviewableModel):
    __tablename__ = 'fooditems'
    fooditem_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('reviewables.id'), primary_key=True)
    __mapper_args__ = {'polymorphic_identity':'fooditems'}

def save_to_db(self):
    print('before: '+str(self.food_items))
    db.session.add(self)
    db.session.commit()
    print('after: '+str(self.food_items))

before: [<FoodItemModel u'Pizza'>, <FoodItemModel u'Pizza'>, <FoodItemModel u'Pizza'>]
after: [<FoodItemModel u'Pizza'>]

"left_id"   "right_id"
"6"         "3"
"6"         "3"
"6"         "3"