the community in which i live attracted waves of immigrants from italy, dalmatia and several other areas of the balkan seacoast (as well as a fair number of norwegians) who brought a number of things with them--most notably the escargot kinda snails, anise and heheheh opium poppies (for the seeds).  without natural predators--except for feet and tires i guess--the snails have flourished here.

being past the age at which such things as big snails might inspire wonder or even idle curiosity, id never considered their sexual side...til i saw the incredible french film 'microcosmos' which includes graphic, although somehow tasteful, snailporn.  

i excerpted this from a review of the movie:

The camera swoops low and creeps over tall grass that has been flattened in a wide swath. On closer examination the grass appears to be coated in a thick slime, which shimmers in the sun as the camera inches forward. The ooze looks like a close cousin of the creature that terrified Steve McQueen in the 1950s. A moment later, the camera catches up to the star of this particular segment of the film Microcosmos--the plump foot of a burgundy snail on its way to an afternoon rendezvous. It meets up with a second snail, and the two hit it off. The fat, wet snails writhe and wriggle in a passionate embrace while a sumptuous operatic score plays in the background, evoking small gasps of delight from the audience.

The musical score in Microcosmos is deliberately designed to provoke viewers into drawing parallels between themselves and the snails and insects.

"When two snails make love, they make love," director Claude Nuridsany said. "It's not another thing. We choose to accompany it with a style of music like opera and at first people laugh a little because it's like a gag. But when the scene goes on little by little, you can see two lovers that are not so different from us."

that--in combination with your excellent and clinically accurate description of the process--provides all the evidence needed to assure snails retain their current position near the top of my personal 'things i'll die before eating' list.

before you eat them fresh outta your garden, you need to clean their systems of toxins like pesticides.  an elderly woman who lived across the street once explained the process to me--something about putting them into a box of corn starch maybe? (apparently the same strategy applies to chihuahuas using rice rather than corn starch.)  since it seemed highly unlikely i'd ever pursue the project, i really wasnt paying a lot of attention.